Welcome to the elopement capital of the world.

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After planning a big wedding, and then deciding to elope, Shannon Kriezel, nee Pfile, still wanted her father to walk her down the aisle.

“We called up our families,” Brian says, “and said, ‘We’re getting married, would you like to join us?’”

Shannon’s parents, who live in Illinois, as well as Brian’s mom and her husband, who live in Mexico, and Brian’s sister, who lives in Los Angeles, flew out for the big day: New Year’s Eve 2005.

While it may not fit the textbook definition of an elopement, Brian describes it as “elopement plus.”

Rain and floods plagued much of California over the New Year’s weekend, and the bride and groom awoke, on Dec. 31, to torrential downpours, which doesn’t bode well for a wedding at the beach.

Miraculously, the rain stopped at about 2:30 in the afternoon. Shannon was at the salon, getting her hair and makeup done, when Brian called her cell phone. “I said, ‘We need to get married now.’”

And so, a little earlier than they had expected, the couple got the wedding of their dreams.

The clouds parted and the sun shone down on the tiny wedding party. The sea raged and the surf pounded the shore behind them, and the air smelled sweet and fresh, as it does after a big rain.

Shannon wore a long, white dress and carried a bouquet of lilies as her father walked her across the sand, and gave her away to Brian, who stood waiting in a formal black suit.

After saying “I do,” the bride, groom and guests clinked champagne flutes and drank Veuve Clicquot. The next morning, they woke up to a new year as man and wife.

“The funny thing is,” Shannon says, “we had so much time to plan our wedding that we decided to plan our honeymoon first. We’re still leaving on June 21.”

In about a month, Shannon and Brian Kriezel will honeymoon in Italy. At that time, they will have been married for almost six months. And unlike their newly married counterparts, they won’t wear dazed, bewildered faces—baggage from staging, costuming, lighting, designing, choreographing and styling a full-fledged production of a wedding that took months, if not years, to plan, and lasts five hours, tops. Instead, I imagine them relaxed and happy, sitting at a sidewalk café in Rome near the Trivoli fountain, recalling a wedding that came together beautifully at the last minute and allowed them both to keep their sanity.