Michelle Hynek didn't have her glasses, but when a girlfriend confirmed, "Yes—He's very cute," the photo shoot producer approached Jason Anthony at an L.A. charity event and asked with uncharacteristic boldness, "Where are you going?" His admittedly cheesy response: "Anywhere you are."

Jason soon learned "anywhere" included rural Barnes, Kansas. Population: 165. Before the annual Hynek Family Fish Fry in August 2007, the marketing executive "conjured up a plan." When Michelle's dad, Larry, announced a vintage jewelry and clothing-filled trunk had been discovered in her late grandmother's barn, Michelle took the bait. She was stunned to find a ring and to see Jason on his knee. They emerged to toasts and queries: “Where would the wedding be?” Jason blurted: "Kansas."

In her heart, Michelle concurred, but a hometown wedding three hours from the nearest city presented a "logistical nightmare." The challenge, says Jason, was executing "big city ideas with small town resources." Michelle's sister, Kara, had to seek city council approval to erect a tent over Barnes' central thoroughfare. When Michelle appeared on friend and bridesmaid, Rachel Zoe's reality show, Manhattan-based designers, Marchesa, required convincing that the gown must suit a remote hilltop, not a red carpet.

Bigger concerns: ensuring out-of-towners' comfort while keeping locals' angst and incredulity in check. In Barnes, "You get married in the church; you have your reception in the Legion. That's just what's done," Michelle explains. Apprehension dissolved when 150 newly-arrived guests met 100 invited Hynek clan members for Friday's welcome dinner at Our Daily Bread and dancing at The Horn. Saturday's "Kansas Experience" featuring skeet shooting and tractor rides at brother Brent's house and a rehearsal dinner picnic provided additional bonding time. "It was remarkable how people from such different lifestyles embraced each other," says Michelle.

As they approached God's Point for Sunday's ceremony, Larry and Michelle cried and giggled. Watching their horse-drawn buggy, Jason "just wanted Michelle there as quickly as possible."

"I don't think we took our eyes away from each other during the entire ceremony," remembers Michelle. The only one that was nervous was friend Steve Sclimenti, who pronounced them wedded by the powers invested in him by ordainmenow.com.

After mint juleps and bluegrass in I.O.O.F. Park, the party moved to Center Street, where relatives' collaborative efforts created the "simple elegance" Michelle had envisioned. A DJ spun tunes until 2 a.m., when guests headed to Brent's for pancakes and bacon.

When the newlyweds arrived at their accommodations without an overnight bag, the clerk suggested: "Take my car to Walmart." Their one regret about shopping for toothpaste and jerky in formal attire at 5 a.m.? "We didn't take a photographer with us," Jason laments.

After a weeklong Costa Rica honeymoon, the couple returned to L.A., but Kansas is never far from their hearts. Guests want to return. Cousin Tubby has already visited newfound friends in L.A. and Larry ships out farm-fresh filet mignon.

Once-suspicious Barnes is changed not for the worse, but for the better. The community even plans to expand its August festival to include aspects of the "Kansas Experience" and the Hyneks' fish fry. The wedding, says Michelle, "was a very big deal to a very small town."

> Written by Kim Knox Beckius