Alyssa & Joel's private Napa vineyard elopement • Offbeat Wed (was Offbeat Bride)

This week we're celebrating intimate weddings with destination elopements, cozy city hall vows, and private romantic ceremonies. It's the warm fuzzies on a smaller scale.

The offbeat bride: Alyssa

Her offbeat partner: Joel

Date and location of wedding: Your Own Private Vineyard in Napa, CA — August 30, 2012

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Our wedding was held at a private vineyard in Napa. We say private because it truly is. You can't buy the wine that is made there. The owners make just enough wine to share with their family and friends. When we arrived, it was really more beautiful than what we had imagined.

The ceremony took place next to the vineyard under a tree. Besides us and the minister, the only people in attendance were our photographers. They were both really wonderful people and we feel we were lucky to have selected two people who not only did a great job capturing our day, but also added to it with their positive attitudes and enthusiasm.

Tell us about the ceremony: The ceremony started with the two of us sharing wine from the “cup of joy and prosperity” and the “cup of sorrow and want,” and vowing to share both of these things with each other. The minister then challenged us to do all that we could to empower ourselves and others with compassion, kindness, truth, forgiveness, and acceptance.

Part of our ceremony included a promise for the future. We had written letters to each other that we placed into a vintage train case along with a bottle of wine to be opened at our five-year anniversary. We then said our vows, exchanged rings, and were pronounced husband and wife.

My favorite moment: Our officiant made a point to mention each of our four (yes, four) dogs by name! It was touching to think of our little fur family during the ceremony.

My funniest moment: My husband reached for my ring too quickly and was promptly slapped on the hand by the reverend!

Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? Because we kept everything simple, the only real challenge was finding a venue at our price point from far away. Because we found it online and it was a private vineyard, we didn't know anything about it until we got there, and Joel kept thinking it would be some crazy debacle where we were sneaking into someone's vineyard and might get chased off in the middle of the wedding. The opposite was true. The owners were there and were so happy to have us getting married on their property. We were lucky to find the venue that we did.

My advice for Offbeat Brides: Be diligent in looking for what you want. It took a while to find our photographers and the venue, but both turned out to be everything we were looking for and more. If you internet search it, it will come!

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? Be true to yourself. We wanted to elope and we did. It ended up being the most romantic and special day. Our family and friends saw how happy we were and supported us even though we went against tradition.

I couldn't find a short white or ivory dress that suited my style, so I threw that out the window. Once I let go of that idea, I found a dress that I loved. In retrospect, I'm so glad that I didn't let tradition or expectations dictate my decisions. I couldn't be happier with how everything turned out.