How Refreshing!

September 10th, 2008 @ 2:49 pm by Mrs. Lemonade

It’s hot in Texas. Like, all the time. Even in April. Thus, when Mr. Lemonade and I decided upon an outdoor ceremony, we knew we’d have to find a way to keep our guests cool as they patiently wait for the big event to begin (because they will all be there early, with bells on…right? ).

Anyhow, in my many adventures surfing the interwebs I came across the following images that inspired me:

{image 1, 2, 3}

Swoon! I totally heart the preppy southern goodness of each of these images. I’ve decided to create our own pre-ceremony refreshment station for our guests. I’m still on the lookout for 3 large glass vessels with spigots like the one in the first image. I plan on filling them with sweet tea, unsweetened herbal tea, and lemonade (of course!). Since I am totally in love with the idea of filling large metal troughs like the one in the middle with ice and beverages, I’ve been on the look out for these as well.

Well, I’m excited to report that we can scratch the metal troughs off the list as well! Yay! We found the first one at Goodwill on a random donation run recently:

Check out Mr. Lemonade and his totally Austin tie-dye shirt. Awesome.

It’s REALLY rustic and shabby chic and I totally heart it. It is a bit small though, so the search continued.

There’s a World Market right down the street from the Goodwill so we popped in. What do you know, but they had a bunch of metal tubs — some fancier than others, some pricier than others, and some that were PERFECT!

We scored 2 of these babies for $19.99/each. They’re larger than the rustic one, but I’m sure we’ll be able to use all 3. As you can see, we plan on filling them with water, Mexi-Coke (our FAVE since I can’t tolerate high fructose corn syrup), and Shiner (Mr. Lemonade’s FAVE for what he believes are obvious reasons).

Are you planning on serving refreshments to your guests pre-ceremony?

Tags: ceremony, food, san antonio |

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12 Responses to “How Refreshing!”

Guest

betting_im_not

we used these for our wedding:

http://www.amazon.com/Charleston-Beverage-Dispenser-Gallon-Capacity/dp/B0015IVPHI

9/10/08 @ 2:56 pm (reply)

Guest

Tiffany

Hi Miss Lemonade,

I was wondering if you could give me the link to the fist picture on the left, that you have posted. The one with the two glass vessals.

Thanks!

9/10/08 @ 2:57 pm (reply)

Guest

Tiffany

I forgot, my email is kiki_fairy@hotmail.com

9/10/08 @ 2:58 pm (reply)

Guest

Laura

I love the trough idea! I wanted to use that in my wedding but it just didn’t really match with everything else.

What a great Southern touch. And you gotta have the sweet tea. House wine of the South

9/10/08 @ 3:09 pm (reply)

Guest

akehurstm

We experienced the same difficulty, only our wedding was in August. The location was directly across from a horse farm, so that ment FLIES. And flies in an open punch bowl is a stomach turner.

After doing the math between bottled beverages & drink dispensers, it came out about even for our 120 guest wedding. So I figured that our wedding would be a little greener and we’d could use the drink dispenser after the wedding.

I did LOTS of searching, researching, and surfing. These are the things I found out:
1. These are not Cheap. No matter where you look, how often you look, or how hopeful & creative you might be. However, maybe you’ll get lucky and find them used?
2. World Market had them. Will not ever get them again, so don’t wait for them.
3. Costco & Sam’s Club eventually get something like these in once during each summer. This year they were ceramic & red (so you couldn’t see the drink) but it’s a shot in the dark when they come in, and they are not a guaranteed item. They came in one week before my wedding.
4. Anything less than 2.5 gallons means refilling. A LOT. Do the math, it’s only about 32 -10oz glasses or 26 – 12 oz glasses. That’s not very much when it means to refilling, and how many drink containers you’ll need.
5. After much searching, I found the best place to go is http:// http://www.infused-vodka.com/ . The have a HUGE selection, reasonable prices – in comparison – and VERY GOOD packing and shipping. Oh and it comes with a really good infusion book.
6. This site recommends you use marbles. USE THEM. Stuff gets stuck in your spigot & this prevents it. I didn’t want to orders there because of the expense. After looking a long time, I found some unglazed marbles (important because of food safety) at Walmart for $1.88 for 2 lbs. This was the best option over the Dollar Tree, ordering online, or even Michaels with a coupon.

We ended up buying 3 – 3.2 gallon jars. We upgraded the spigot & added the stand to it. We decided to buy 3 – 3 gallons instead of 2 – 5 gallons, because it’s almost the same by volume, and they are more reasonable size to use in the future.
I
hope this helps. I spent a lot of work & time trying to figure this out on my own, and I wish someone would have done it for me 

9/10/08 @ 3:17 pm (reply)

Guest

akehurstm

oh.. and BTW, everyone LOVED them. Thought they were the coolest thing. I think it was one of the things I received the most comments on and were well worth the money. We’ve used them several times since then.

9/10/08 @ 3:19 pm (reply)

Guest

Miss Scarlett

I just threw a bridal shower in Texas and used the same dispenser for lemonade as the one in your third picture. I found the glass part on sale at Tuesday Morning, and the metal stand at Ace Hardware, believe it or not! If I were a guest at your wedding, I’d really appreciate the cold drinks! How thoughtful!

9/10/08 @ 3:54 pm (reply)

Guest

bussey

You were totally in my neighborhood. I live right in between that goodwill and worldmarket! We are doing this too, by the way, so I love the idea!

9/10/08 @ 5:01 pm (reply)

Guest

VideoBride

I had a Central Texas wedding in an un-air-conditioned chapel and we provided refreshments beforehand. Our caterer had a table set up with fruit kabobs and sparkling cider, and we also hired a cellist to play some background music. I think it worked well, although I wasn’t there to see it…:(

9/10/08 @ 7:00 pm (reply)

10.

Guest

Amanda

I got 3 of the glass jars with spigots at Target in June. The best part - they were part of a seasonal collection that was on clearance sale - $3.25 each!

9/10/08 @ 10:21 pm (reply)

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