In Columbia, Missouri, "If you go anywhere, people know where you are," says Whitney Kroenke. So she left small city life behind, first to study theater and dance in Chicago, then to pursue her passions in Los Angeles, London, New York and then back to L.A. again. The man who would win her heart, however, was waiting back home.

Ben Burditt, a Warsaw, Mo., native and University of Missouri-Columbia graduate, had been part of her circle of friends for years, but it wasn't until they reconnected while boating on the Lake of the Ozarks over the Memorial Day holiday in 2004 that they "decided to exchange numbers," Whitney says.

A year later, while vacationing in Croatia with family and friends, Ben took Whitney on a walk through Skradin. "I was pretty nervous; I don't remember half the walk," says Ben, who proposed on bended knee in the "pretty, little river town."

Whitney knew the home of her parents—Wal-Mart heiress, Ann Walton Kroenke, and real estate developer and sports team owner, Stan Kroenke—would be the setting for her wedding. The lake at her parents' Columbia estate was a scene she'd cherished since childhood. "We're such Missourians; there was no other place that we wanted to get married," she says.

Invitations styled to resemble old-fashioned postcards summoned those who arrived early to a "Welcome to Missouri" party Thursday evening at the home of the bride's parents' best friends. Ben's parents hosted a rehearsal dinner at the university Friday and Whitney says the emotional night's highlight was a slide show depicting the "very strange parallels" between their lives.

There was a flurry of activity at the Kroenkes' for days leading up to the main event. Three, 400-foot walkways and a lakeside altar were among the facilities constructed; a barn became florists' headquarters. Whitney says event planner Mindy Weiss and her team "really embraced coming to Missouri and all of its idiosyncrasies."

The chief idiosyncrasy: "Missouri has very unpredictable weather," Whitney acknowledges, but her optimism never wavered. There was no rain to mar their day, but as the traditional service came to a close, distant tornadoes gave the sky a moody, dramatic look. Later, guests told the couple about the pair of geese that soared overhead, as if on cue, as they exchanged vows. "Geese mate for life," Whitney says. "It was very cool, very Missouri."

After cocktails, the couple's 480 guests walked to the reception tent on the other side of the lake. "You have to walk through the trees to get there," Whitney explains. Chandeliers swayed from branches bathed in pink and orange light as harpists played. It was like "a fairytale in the forest," she says.

With her professional dance background, Whitney wanted to impress her guests, but Ben admits, "The only time I'd ever danced before was at weddings when I could just blend in and hide." In the weeks leading up to their nuptials, he took their ballroom lessons seriously, and their big opening number—part rumba, part swing—really set the tone for the night.

"At the end he did a huge lift," Whitney says. "People were on their chairs clapping. From that point on, no one stopped dancing."

After a restful, week-long Bora Bora honeymoon, the couple returned to L.A., where Ben is a builder and Whitney produces documentaries. "Home," says Whitney, is wherever they're together.