Weddingbee boards

So, we're having an outdoor, casual drinking/dancing reception.  We're having a dilema about how to serve the beer (we're doing a self-serve type deal).

 We had originally planned on doing the whole beer-in-a-canoe thing--we went to a wedding where someone had done it, and it was an awesome way to have all of the drinks in one place, iced down and easily accesible. (I tried to find a picture, but I seem to have misplaced the ONE picture I got of the canoe).  However, it was FI's best friend's wedding, and many of the guests he'll invite were also at best friend's wedding, and we don't want to be too copycat-ish. 

Any ideas on a great, fun way to self-serve beer and soft drinks to everyone?  Trust me, nothing is tooconservative or out there!

we have 150 guests, and we're all fair to moderate drinkers on both sides of the family.  FI's best friend got married (the canoe folks) and they went through 15 cases of beer throughout the reception.

I've seen it done in (new) galvanized horse troughs. You could put them in old oak wine barrels (you can sometimes get them from wineries, and garden nurseries sometimes sell them). At our rehearsal dinner, we used these huge, brightly colored, plastic containers that we saw at Lowe's.

If you particularly like the canoe, then you could ask the B&G who did it if they'd mind if you used their idea. Imitation is flattery, afterall. And they may have seen it somewhere else and wouldn't feel "ownership" of it.

I think an old barrel would be cool. our an ice scup.  made into a bucket lol something on the lines of that.

The Lowe's containers!  As soon as I read that, I knew that's what we were doing.  (our colors are pink, yellow and orange, and they always have those colors going into the Easter/Spring season!)

we've thrown the idea of the galvanized horse troughs around several times--he grew up farming and raising horses, so it actually wasn't a bad idea, and it's not completely ruled out!

I love the wheel barrow idea!  Also, my sister did the (new) galvanized horse troughs, which worked great and fit in with the surroundings (Montana), but they were on the ground and you had to bend way over to get it out.  Not a big deal, but something to think about. 

Another thing you could consider doing is renting some of those big 5-gallon iced-tea things (why can't I think of the name? the big glass jar/jugs that have the little spigot at the bottom) and serve pre-mixed cocktails from them.  You could do an assortment of colors and they look really pretty when placed side-by-side on a table.  If you do something like that, though, you should consider having someone monitor the drinks--you wouldn't want any kids drinking Cosmos thinking they're fruit punch!