Problem solving - beverage

I have been mulling over how to serve the drink after the ceremony. It's 22.5 litres (5 UK gallons) we're talking about and it needs to be mixed easily, kept cool and be easily served. Jugs? I'd have to have 12-14 (depending on size but extra large) just for the cosmo alcohol drink. That's not practical.

I started looking for dispensers but the only ones I could find were fancy restaurant ones and they're also quite small. 2x8 litre (2x1.75 UK gallons) is the usual size. Too small. I could find larger ones - in the US. And they weren't cheap either. I'm not buying stuff from the US because of taxes and p&p which bumps up the actual price even more.

The home brewers tend to have barrels and plastic containers with taps but though something like that would work, it's not exactly pretty. Sure, I could refer to the moonshine tradition on the countryside, but really, I'd rather not.

However, you can buy the taps separately with nuts. If you can find a suitable container, all you need to do is drill a hole and put the tap on place and you've got an instant beverage dispenser. I'm going to use two 16 litre (3.5 UK gallons) metal trash cans with lid from IKEA. To keep the beverage cool I'm going to throw in freeze packs. This way I'll have fancy looking beverage dispensers with cold cosmopolitan for a fraction of the prices I've seen.

A very important part of a party: food

After eating ourselves through the potential food I can honestly say that we're serving bulk food. The bean gumbo in itself would be enough, but we're also having vegetarian burritos, corn dogs and corn cobs. On top of that it's rocky road. You don't need much to get full. It's good though. Food should not only taste well, but no one should leave a table still hungry.

From the start we had decided on beer, but it's so much trouble with beer. You need so much and somewhere to cool it and it turned out both expensive and difficult to store cold during a party. Wine is easier that way. We're having one simple red and one white, both in bag-in-boxes. Right after the ceremony we're having a jug drink with white sweet sparkling, cranberry juice and Cointreau. It's a lovely raspberry red drink with a cosmopolitan feeling to it, albeit more laid back.

There will be drinks for those who don't drink alcohol. After the ceremony I thought a fitting substitute would be sprite, cranberry juice and some lemon. As for dinner drinks, I'm not sure. We really should have Coca Cola considering the theme, but I suspect Darling won't approve. We'll see. Water must be available at all times of course. You shouldn't have to drink alcohol or soft drinks to quell thirst.