I am looking to do a local, custom install of CentOS 6.5 via VirtualBox and then make that my production server.

I have read these guides:
https://www.linode.com/docs/tools-reference/custom-kernels-distros/running-a-custom-linux-distro-on-a-linode-vps/
https://www.linode.com/docs/migrate-to-linode/disk-images/copying-a-disk-image-over-ssh
https://www.linode.com/docs/migrate-to-linode/disk-images/migrating-a-server-to-your-linode
http://spin.atomicobject.com/2013/03/18/linux-encryption-cloud-luks-linode/

The requirements are that the install have five partitions and that they are all encrypted. After reviewing everything, I am considering the following approach:

1. Create the five partitions as raw disk images in the Linode Manager.
2. In VirtualBox, create five local disk images, on which I will install the partitions as LUKS on top of LVM.
3. Install the OS and configure appropriately.
4. Transfer the disk images using dd and Finnix, and possibly fixing device nodes, udev, etc.

The other route I have been considering is to create the disk images in the Linode Manager as above, mount with Finnix within Linode, encrypt them, then transfer the local OS at the file-level to the remote partitions, then fix grub to boot the right kernel. But I may have to deal with essentially the same device issues (except maybe fixing crypttab and fstab), so I am not sure if there is a big advantage here.

Option 3?

Thanks in advance for the feedback.