Brooke Elswick

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Our Honeymoon has arrived...

Brad and I leave for our honeymoon bright and early in the morning and will arrive in St. John, US Virgin Islands around 2:00pm. We are so excited, we can't hardly stand it and probably won't be getting much sleep tonight either. While we are there enjoying ourselves to the furtherest degree, we will have the pleasure of being escorted around Spanish Town, The Baths at Virgin Gorda, Cooper Island, Norman Island and the famous Soggy Dollar Bar in a 49' power cat catamaran called the Bad Kitty (minus the chicks of course, but LOVE the name) on Saturday! This was one of our fabulous wedding presents courtesy of Dave Alban and his first mate, Gelska Bruinsma! Much love to you guys! We can't thank you enough! We will return with awesome pictures to post! Over and out for now...

Friday, July 17, 2009

Our first day back to Ashland as Mr & Mrs!

July 13, 2009

When I returned to work this afternoon from being gone since Wednesday, this is what welcomed me as I arrived to my office. How sweet! A special thanks to Amy Jeffers, my director who took time out of her weekend to come in and create this! She even used the good card stock paper too! :)

This picture had to be documented.

This is a picture of my packed car after it took four carts to bring all the stuff down! Not to mention what was packed in my parents and Bruce's SUV's!

Day after our wedding

July 12, 2009

The day after our wedding consisted of our wedding brunch hosted by: Ronnie and Becky Dunnigan, Cathy Goble and Bruce Morrison, Hana and Skipper Martin (my aunt and uncle), Mike and Sharon Reed (Brad’s aunt and uncle) and Mike and Kelli Rodman (My sister “cousin” and her husband).

We chilled at the hotel all day then venturing off to dinner at The Rockwood in Mount Adams. At the top of the hill, you could overlook the entire city and see the downtown area and the bridges that Kentucky and Ohio together. The Hilton Netherland Plaza hotel, where we got married, is the largest skyscraper in the background with the American flag billowing on top.

After dinner, we proceeded to The Blind Lemon bar, a local bar in Mount Adams. While there, my dad drank his toddy out of a good friend’s monogrammed glass. His friend lives in Florida but they always keep his glass washed and ready for him, just in case he may stumble in.

After that, we went we back to Belvedere Room, which is on the 16th floor and only welcomes guests who stay on certain numbered floors, we all qualified so we were in! It serves breakfast, snacks, and drinks throughout each day and is very handy for out of town guest and Hilton Honors members. The Belvedere Room has an extremely beautiful outdoor area that overlooks downtown. A must see! It was until this moment did Brad and I decide to stay another night because we knew if we left, our wedding weekend would be over and neither one of us wanted that to happen.

Brad and I at the top of Mount Adams

View above the Hilton Netherland Plaza

Michael Jackson's Thriller Album

Posing on a high heeled shoe by The Blind Lemon

Downtown Cincy

The Hilton Hotel is the largest bulding shown here.

Downtown Cincy again

Soft Opening at Holly B's Jewelry & Gifts and Ashland Plaza 'Hoe'

July 2, 2009

People thought I was crazy hosting my first premier night at my new store front one week before my wedding, but I just couldn’t resist since I’m a big fan of 1st Friday’s here in Ashland. I could not imagine now being open for 1st Friday in July and waiting until 1st Friday in August. To me, summer is over in August and school is back in session, so I just went with it. We had our opening night on Thursday followed by Friday with 1st Friday. I couldn’t believe the amount of people that attended either night! And to me, it probably would have been even larger had there not been going on simultaneously at Central Park, but I was VERY pleased with the turn out! Now, I can’t wait to be in full mode for the upcoming weeks at Holly B’s!

Cheers to us! Brooke, Mom, Vivian and Cathy

Opening Night

Ashland Plaza 'Hoe' Hotel

I also thought I would share a classy moment that I caught on camera! I guess the Ashland Plaza Hotel must be short staffed in their maintenance department because they really need to stay stocked on their light bulbs! Enjoy!

My 30th Birthday!

June 27, 2009

Who knew a few years ago that I would turn 30 years old and get married all within two weeks of each other! Crazier things have happened, but I couldn’t have imagined anything better. My parents, Brad and I celebrated by having dinner at Rocco’s, my most favorite restaurant! After that, we celebrated at Brad’s house with cake, which he purchases all on his own! Later on that evening, we were joined by a few other dear couples you made it a joyous night for the last night at my twenties!

Brooke and her man

Daddy, Brooke and Mom

Preparing to blow out the candles

Our 1st Couples Shower

June 13, 2009

Dear friends of the family hosted a lovely couples shower for us at the home of Stan and Treca Timberlake. We had such an incredible time and felt so loved! A special thanks to our host and hostesses: Cathy Goble and Bruce Morrison, Cheri and Mike Light, Chip and Janice Miller, Stan and Treca Timberlake, and Travis and Laura Timberlake!

The Hostesses and Brooke

Brooke, Cathy Goble, Cheri Light, Treca Timberlake, Vivian Robinson, Laura Timberlake, Janice Miller and Sherry Elswick (my momma!)

Brad, Wes, Dave and Travis

Brad, Wes, Dave, Tom Poskitt, and Travis

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Our florist, Kevin Ford

June 12, 2009

Our final meeting with our florist, Kevin Ford. We just loved him! He was able to design a sample for one of our medium sized vases. Kevin Ford is such a talented florist. The first time I met him was back in December and he won my heart over from our first meeting. From that moment, it was decided that our wedding flowers would consist of three shades of pink and soft green colored accents (my two favorite colors) and would be positioned in three sizes of vases. My only request was to have something that cascaded from the vases since they were so tall and elegant. My wish came true and I never have seen such beautiful flowers in my life! Much love to Kevin Ford!

Me and Kevin Ford

Mom and I and one of the medium sized vases

Up close at our flowers with our three shades of pink and soft green!

The flowers were even more beautiful the day of the wedding

Me mailing out our wedding invitations

June 3, 2009

Today was incredible day for me! I mailed out my wedding invitations for my upcoming on July 11th! The idea of this photo opportunity was suggested by a dear friend, Joann Reinhard, who also was our chalcographer. She did the same thing for her daughter’s wedding, so we decided to take her advice and make it happen! (FYI, I did ask Brad if he wanted to be part of the photo opt, but he quickly declined. He hates having his picture made if he is stone, cold sober! HA!)

In town folks here they come

Brad and I stamping every wedding invitation

June 2, 2009

From the very beginning of being engaged, Brad made it known that he wanted to help out in any way he could with the planning of the wedding. A few days prior to these pictures, my parents, Brad’s parents, Cathy, Bruce, Brad and I had a wedding invitation stuffing party which went very smoothly, so to finalize the project, we were in charge of putting two stamps on each outer envelope. There were about 200 invitations to stamp which wouldn’t take that long, if I the OCD one between the two of us requested that both stamps be straight and uniformed! If anyone received an invite and the stamps were stamps, it was probably in Brad’s pile! HA!!! Love ya honey!

Posing with the invites

The final products

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Memorial Weekend in Sevierville, Tennessee with the Reed, Robinson, and Isaac Clan

May 22-25, 2009

Every year for Memorial Weekend Brad’s family meets up in Sevierville, Tenn to celebrate the holiday weekend. This year was the third year for Brad and I. This weekend was extremely special for us because all the families teamed up to host a surprise “Pottery Barn Shower” for us! A special thank you to Aunt Sharon for picking up all the gifts from the Pottery Barn store in Birmingham, Alabama and delivering them safely to Tennessee for the families.

During our visit to Sevierville, we had to squeeze in the outlets, however, I was well behaved and only bought new shirts and shorts for Brad, since we had so many upcoming showers to dress for. We also made time to go canoeing, which was so much fun! Brad and I were in charge of Claire, Brad’s nine year old cousin, who kept asking if she could get out every 5 minutes. All in all, everyone had a great time and it was actually very calming!

Group shot before we push off. How I ended up being the only adult female, I will never know?