AUGUST 2015
PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
Photo by Tyler Mask
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rable to the hill country. Our realtor asked for [us to travel]
40 minutes outside of Keller and that’s when we found this
place. We met at the Malt Shop and then we turned into
this place, and when we saw it I called Steve and said, ‘It’s
worth coming to see.’”
“When we first came out here, my son-in-law and I
came and stood in the field and did a kind of 360, looking at all the different views,” Steve said. “We knew the
prettiest view was across the pasture of [the house already
on the land] and the neighbor’s house, looking at the trees
and the little house on the hill.”
Steve and Tricia bought the land in December of 2013,
made it home in January and began construction on The
Brooks late March.
The venue was completed in October 2014, just in time
for their first wedding.
“We just hustled and hustled and hustled. We put in
landscaping two weeks before the first event,” Steve said.
“For about three months, I didn’t know if we were going to
make it or not.”
The Heflins purchased materials from all over in order
to make The Brooks a reality. The Palo Pinto rock was by
a man in San Antonio and the cedar was from Tyoaka.
“It’s a place that appeals to most everyone that walks in
the door,” Tricia said. “It’s classic, rustic and elegant.
Rustic elegance. The men like it when they see it. To me
it’s a very good example of my husband’s creativity. This
is somebody’s dream, imagination – a dream come to life.
We’ve had [guests] twice [who] were architects say, ‘I
want to meet the man who did this because it was not just
put together.’”
“That main window [of the chapel] is 6 feet tall and 11
feet wide. The view kind of reminds us of the San Antonio
hillside,” Steve said. “Everything we did here we prayed
about before we did it. I think that that’s a big part of why
it came out like it did, because He is here.”
Steve said everything was made of cedar, unusual in his
work. “I’ve never built with cedar. Not a lot of people have
ever used cedar,” he said.
Paying tribute to the land’s history, Steve said they
named their venue The Brooks because of a pre-existing
irrigation system once used for agriculture.
“Mr. Peacock’s grandmother used to own the house.
He told me they used to use the irrigation and they would
pump water off into the cotton field,” he said. “We wanted
to use the existing site, so we built the brook and let it lead
into the pond on the land.”
The Heflins were also excited to include pieces from
Weatherford, integrating materials purchased from First
Monday. “The ceiling tiles in the bride’s room, the framed
tiles in the bathroom, the chairs and the bench in the hall
are all bought from First Monday in Weatherford,” Tricia
said. “It feels good to have a piece of the town.”
With its high cedar beams, rolling hills and and architecture from a Jane Austin novel, The Brooks is a venue the
Heflins are excited to share — their dream come true.