Reader Question: Can I ask for advice? I hope you don't mind. We're getting married in a cool old barn and have the option of providing everything ourselves, including the bar. We have enough help that buying and transporting alcohol shouldn't be a big issue, but the thing that has me stumped is ice. Specifically, bins for ice. How did you keep sodas and wine chilled? I'm sure I'm just not looking in the right places, but spending $30 each on ice containers seems excessive to me. This is not something that the Knot girls know about...Hmm…this is a very interesting question that I hope to help you solve because your venue sounds wonderful!
In general, here’s my advice for solving wedding dilemmas:
Spend some time seriously brainstorming with others. When you’re brainstorming, you can’t shoot down any ideas. You just keep spouting out ideas and writing them down. The craziest/worst ideas can lead to the most perfect idea. You never know. Ask lots of different people for ideas.
Keep everything in perspective. When you’re planning a wedding, everything (read: EVERYTHING!) can feel like a huge deal. It’s not. Trust me. As someone who has been through it and is now happily married, believe me when I say it’s not a big deal. Your guests probably won’t even notice.
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8 comments:
Ice is a killer and can be expensive, they recommend 1/2lb of ice per person. I recommend getting some metal buckets from goodwill, those old milk farmer ones, can just keep ice cold in there.
i have seen a canoe filled with ice and then loaded up with bottles of beer/wine/pop... if you have a canoe or another small boat at your place this looks amazing!
2 WORDS: galvanized tubs. They look cool, go along with your theme, and they're cheap. You can get big ones at pet supply stores and farm supply stores for about $10 a piece. You could use 1 for beer, 1 for wine, 1 for non-alcoholic beverages. When the stock gets low, just have someone refill. This is what I plan on using for "coolers". If you dont care what they look like, you can also use those big rubbermaid storage bins and get them from Walmart on the cheap (and you can reuse afterwards).
Just incase you dont know what galvanized tubs are:
http://www.pet-dog-cat-supply-store.com/shop/index.php?page=shop/flypage&product_id=17252
All of these ideas are fabulous and I know any would look fantastic at your event. I adore the galvanized tub idea and the bathtub idea is really cool and unique as well! Thanks for all the great ideas!
I second the galvanized tubs idea, and it also fits with one of my wedding mantras, "I don't want to buy anything I can't reuse in my home after the wedding". Galvanized tubs are quite handy to keep beer cold at home parties, or storing gardening tools, a hose, dirty shoes by the door... any number of useful items can be corralled in a tub!
If you have any large rubbermaid bins or coolers, but think they're ugly (which they are, of course), wrap them in sheets or fabric by laying them on top of it, wrapping it toward the inside, and then fill with ice, which will hold the fabric in, and make them perty. And they're useful after the wedding.
You can also re-purpose pretty much anything that's used as a planter - again, the galvanized tubs/buckets/box planters or used wine barrels. I found that buying galvanized "ice buckets" cost way more than galvanized planters (and function the same!).
Also, instead of looking for beverage buckets/pails/etc., look for wash tubs. MUCH cheaper.
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