Aeriell is one of my best friends — we met in a photography Facebook group back in August 2024. Our connection turned into a real friendship fast. So when she and Sam decided to elope, there was no version of that day I wasn’t going to be a part of.
Why Farragut State Park
Lake Pend Oreille is family to Aeriell — her grandpa keeps a sailboat on it, and it’s where they spend time together out on the water. So when it came to choosing where to elope, Farragut State Park wasn’t a random pick off a list of pretty places. Instead, it’s the lake she grew up on.
Sam and Aeriell chose the Sunrise Day Use Area, right near the Willow Trail, with views across Idlewilde Bay toward Bernard Peak. If you’re weighing Farragut for your own elopement, a couple things are worth knowing going in: the day-use areas need to be reserved ahead of time, not walked up to. Also, if you want the place to yourself, a weekday beats a weekend by a mile. The trees do most of the work here rather than open golden-hour light. Therefore, timing matters less than it would at a typical venue — it photographs beautifully most of the day.
The Ceremony
Their immediate family came along, including their daughter Kaiya. This made the whole thing feel less like a formal ceremony and more like the people who mattered most just showing up for them.
Dinner at Twigs
After the ceremony, we headed into Spokane for dinner at Twigs on South Hill — a low-key, celebratory close to a day that started out in the woods with the people they loved most. That contrast is one of my favorite things about elopements: you can start the day somewhere wild and intimate and end it somewhere warm and familiar, all on your own terms.
What Came Next
About a year and a half after their elopement, Sam and Aeriell welcomed a second daughter, Yumi-ko — I got to document that whole story too, from the pregnancy announcement to her Fresh 48 session. If you want to see how it all connects: www.archandelm.com/aeriell-sam-pregnancy-announcement-yumiko and www.archandelm.com/yumiko-fresh-48-session-sacred-heart-spokane
If you’re thinking about eloping somewhere in North Idaho and want it documented the way it actually felt, not staged for a highlight reel, I’d love to talk about it. https://www.archandelm.com/contact
