Y'all! Where has the past month gone?! I meant to finish this forever ago but life has been crazy lately. So without further ado...part two of our bourbon trail adventure!!

After day one of our weekend (and a fab dinner at Louvino) we were ready to continue our adventure! We woke up early and headed to Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort. Our group arrived as soon as the distillery opened and went on the first tour of the day. I was having such a blast that I totally forgot to take any photos. This was my FAVORITE distillery by far! Not only is it a beautiful place, it's also so informative and very fun! Our tour guide was totally wonderful and we got to enjoy two different types of bourbon at the end of the tour (I actually got to try a vodka as well). If you are close to Frankfort go visit Buffalo Trace. The tour is free and totally fun!

Next we headed to Woodford Reserve in Versailles. This was another beautiful distillery located in the rolling countryside of Versailles. The tour was very nice (this distillery, like Makers Mark, was clearly a big operation). They had a bus that took us to visit the amazing stone buildings that the bourbon ages in. This is definitely another must visit!

  

I apologize for not posting much lately, but I have a plan to get back on track in the coming week (since we are almost at the two month mark)!! 

Another month...another list.

This months to dos include: 

Plan rehearsal dinner and decide on menu (I seriously need to get on this...)*
Plan day after brunch*
Shop for gifts for wedding party*
Research marriage license requirements*
Book hotel room for wedding night*
Get transportation for bridal party to wedding*
Order shuttles for guests staying at hotel*
Schedule beauty treatments*
Meet with officiant to plan ceremony
See sample centerpiece from florist/have a meeting with florist to discuss everything
Choose table linens
Make sure rentals are in order
Buy wedding rings (halfway done)
Start choosing songs for DJ and compile a DO NOT play list
Choose favors
Buy accessories for Abe
Find dresses for showers/rehearsal (showers are taken care of)
Check registries
Contact newspapers for guidelines about wedding announcements
Make dress fitting appointments (DONE)
Choose gifts for shower hostesses
Schedule food tasting for final menu (six to eight weeks pre wedding)
Finalize guest list (Pretty much DONE)
Weigh one complete invitation and choose stamps
Stuff wedding invitations
Rehearsal dinner invitations
Day after brunch invitations
Schedule rehearsal time and rehearsal dinner time
Decide on all special songs
Think about vows
Dance lessons (?)
Discuss when to start photography with Bella Grace
Book photo booth

(*these are from last month, oops)

Good grief. Better get on things...

In Kentucky we are know for many things but we tend to pride ourselves on good basketball, horse racing and bourbon. A few weekends ago Abe and I (along with his brother, his brother's sweet girlfriend and his Uncle) decided to finally explore the KY bourbon trail. We visited 5 different distilleries and had a wonderful time learning about how bourbon is made.

The first thing you need to know about Kentucky and bourbon is...

via Kentucky Kicks Ass

The second is that 95% of the world's (yes WORLD'S) bourbon is made in my beautiful home state (basically we have limestone which means good water for makin' bourbon...and also equals strong ponies for racing)

The first distillery we visited was Bulleit Frontier Whiskey here in Louisville. We were taken on a lovely little tour around the property before tasting three of Bulleit's bourbons. Although this distillery is a little bit hard to find, it's worth the trip to see the lovely rickhouses (where they put the bourbon to age and my favorite part of every tour) and meet the wonderful people working there.

Inside a rickhouse

After Bulleit, we headed to Makers Mark Distillery in Loretto. There were significantly more people visiting this distillery and you could tell they had a bigger operation. We were given a very informative tour and even got to stick our fingers down into fermenting barrels of bourbon to see what it tasted like. My favorite part of this tour was getting to hand dip our own bottles of Makers Mark in their signature red wax. 

After dipping our bottles, we headed to Kentucky Bourbon Distillers in Bardstown where Willett bourbon is made. This distillery isn't on the official bourbon trail, but we thought it would be fun to stop here on the way home. This small distillery is beautiful (and there was a kitty!) but the tour wasn't really worth the $7 cost.

I'll be back soon for part two of our bourbon trail adventure!