The timing of the proposal -just three months after the pair began dating- may have seemed hasty to some, but no to Scott and Rhulen. "I never had any doubts," says the groom, who popped the question in a park overlooking the Atlantic Ocean near Scott's hometown of Charleston, S.C. "I always feel better with Ashley than with out her, and that made the decision very easy."

It helped that the couple, who met at the Sundace Film Festival, were friends before things turned romantic.

"We hung out together all the time," says Scott, who is best known for her role on the television series Dark Angel and can next be seen in the film Into the Blue.

"Then I found my self putting on makeup before he came over or calling him before I went to bed. I gradually became more smitted with him, and he with me."

They made up for their brief courtship by spending nearly a year meticulously planning an October 2004 destination wedding at a lush, 120-acre Napa Valley vineyard. The location was chosen in part to honor Rhulen's deceased father, who shared the couple's love of wine. "The place reminded me of him, and it just felt right," says Rhulen.

In a statue garden surrounded by foliage of blazing crimson, orange and gold, Scott strode down a white gravel aisle flanked by her two brothers; their father met them halfway and escorted his daughter to the altar. "I'm ery close to my brothers and thought it wouldn't be fair to just have my dad with me," says Scott, who whore her father's wedding band on her ring thumb as "something old."

Afterward, the 100 guests, incluiding actor Josh Hartnett, made their way to a plantation-style estate with sweeping porches- a setting that inspired the Southern-theme cocktail hour. "I was born near New Orleans and wanted to get my country thing in somewhere," says Scott of the outdoor party, which included an oyster bar, lemon mint juleps, peach iced tea and a bluegrass band.

An alfresco dinner, accompanied by Honig sauvignon, was served under a grape arbor strung with tiny lights. "Ashley loves fairies, so we hung Swarovski crystal fairies, butterflies and dragonflies from the vines," says wedding planner Yifat Oren. "It was very Midsummer Night's Dream."

The story ending must have seemed a long way off the night the couple first kissed. "We were still friends at that point; then he leaned in to kiss me," says Scott. "It was the most awkward moment of our lives! But we've perfected the art now."