MEET the Publisher, Giselle Smith

Hi, I'm Giselle Smith, new wife of local Hardin Memorial Hospital ear, nose and throat doctor, Aleksander Smith, and mother to a bright-eyed teenage daughter, Kenzie. In case you're wondering who I am and why I decided to launch Elizabethtown Lifestyle Magazine, I am going to cover that here. There's no better time for a full introduction than Friday, so here is my #FridayIntroductions post. This isn't my first rodeo in the magazine world and I am excited to launch this new venture and showcase everything Hardin County has to offer. Read on to find out more about me.

Our family recently moved to Elizabethtown and by recently, I mean July 2016. It feels new as I have spent the last few years between states traveling for flower-centric weddings. Born just between Waco and Austin, Texas, in a town called Temple (where Aleks did his residency with Texas A&M University), I previously lived a lively existence with Kenzie surrounded by friends, family, amazing food and a lot of flowers. My luxury event florist, Lovely Leaves, was launched in January 2014 and since then, we have designed flowers for over 400 weddings from Austin to Waco. Beginning in 2016, we began accepting select weddings across the country including some blessed days in Kentucky. In case you're curious I can design flowers for your wedding in any state if the style is right. Some of my favorite things are flowers, coffee, hotels, food/wine, swimming pools and Sheltie pups.

“I believe in the power of positive press for not only individual business growth, but also community growth. Magazines have the ability to show the real you and show the why behind your brand to the local residents who are dying to know you.”

Honestly, I fell in love with Aleks before ever setting foot in Elizabethtown and definitely never planned to leave my lovely Texas life for some veggie-eating, overly-athletic surgeon from Kentucky. Plans change, we just got married in October and now I am in the Bluegrass State full-time. Fact: WE JUST BOUGHT A LOG CABIN! It sits on 85 acres on the bank of the Rolling Fork River out off of 62 towards Boston. Imagine something slightly more modern than Abraham Lincoln would have liked, but perfectly in line with a 1992 set of Lincoln Logs complete with a hunter green roof. If you follow my personal/floral Instagram at @_giselle_smith, you will see the occasional cabin update as it is a work in progress.

If you want to get to know me, we should grab coffee! You can usually find me at Vibe Coffee at some point every day. On the Internet I also have a personal blog on my floral design site at www.lovelyleavesweddings.com featuring a mix of all the things I love from wedding flowers and event planning tips to family photos, restaurants to hotels and tricks to travel well and make the most out of every holiday or special event. We eat well, love a lot and take pictures of pretty much everything in an effort to document the everyday to keep friends and family living out of state up to date on our Kentucky-based activities. Occasionally you will find snap shots of our furry counterparts, Sheltie dogs Rex and Stella and the newest addition to our family: a ginger and white cat. 

In 2016 just before deciding to move to Kentucky with Aleks, I launched a bridal magazine in the Waco area, The Book of Beautiful Weddings. I published Volumes 1-4 with my dear friends Teresa Williams of Studio W Designs and Lilian Halabi of La Rio Mansion & Lily's Cakes Bakery before selling the magazine to an event planner/friend Katelyn Lakey in July 2018. I helped her produce her first volume; you can click the link to see The Book of Beautiful Weddings Volumes 1-5. While beautiful online, our printed magazine was fabulous to say the least with high-quality paper and gold foil on the cover. The day we signed the sale contract was filled with happy tears because while I knew I would miss the making of the magazine, I also knew Katelyn would do amazing things with my previous Texas publication.

My love for magazines didn't fade and I couldn't be more excited for what is to come with Elizabethtown Lifestyle Magazine. I believe in the power of positive press for not only individual business growth, but also community growth. Magazines have the ability to show the real you and show the why behind your brand to the local residents who are dying to know you. A local magazine has the potential to not only grow local businesses, but to showcase the area and local events bringing larger companies to Elizabethtown thus creating more jobs and capital in the community. Full circle, growth is best for individuals and businesses alike. No need to refer people to Louisville businesses or websites online. By showcasing everything that Elizabethtown and surrounding areas have to offer, we hope to keep/bring business and keep hard-earned community dollars in Hardin County.

In addition to printing a magazine overflowing with features and articles, we will be sharing business owner bios and behind-the-scenes material on our blog, maintaining up-to-date social media channels and featuring and hosting community events. We will also offer branding services with photography from local photographers, web design and social media management for small businesses.

Staying in Touch

We are new and we need followers to build a strong social media community. Follow on your favorite social sites: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. In addition, you can tag us in your Instagram posts (#elizabethtownlifestyle) because we want to know what you are up to and about any upcoming events in the Hardin County community. If you know of something cool happening or of someone you think would be interested in advertising who would be a good fit for a bio feature, shoot me an email at info@elizabethtownlifestyle.com.

WOW, that was a whole lot about me. Thanks for reading this far; we have so much to cover, so this will likely be the last Friday Introductions for a bit. STAY TUNED: Things are about to get exciting.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Pretty photos of some things I love (weddings, home decor, a hotel, restaurants, a coffee shop, a pool and some lovely flowers) from a recent trip to my home state of Texas with Kentucky photographer Katie Rhodes Photography.