Cross Country Help!

So here is the deal. I'm the best man in my best friend's wedding, which is awesome. I thought it would be cool to make a beer to have at the rehearsal dinner (its at someone's house rather than an actual business so no real worries about legal business licences) Anyhow, the real problem with this is that I live in Michigan, and the wedding is in Arizona. I had thought to keg the beer in a 5-gallon keg and then ground ship it to Arizona a week or so before the wedding, but then realized I will still have the problem of carbing/serving it. Can anyone give me any advice on what to do in this situation? Thanks!!

I won't comment on the shipping part other than to say "good luck" and please post your method and results when you get back.

Make sure your keg has at least a couple of PSI on it before your ship it just to make sure all the seals seat and don't leak. It's too bad you won't be able to carbonate it before shipping, but I think there are legal ramifications involved.

You will have to chill and shake carbonate once the beer gets to where it's going. You can read this article I wrote about kegging to get some pointers on this.

Since the keg will be cold, you won't need a jockey box, you can just turn down the pressure and use a picnic tap. The beer won't go flat for quite a while. If you can find a jockey box to rent, this makes for a much nicer presentation. You might be able to rent a jockey box from a local party supplier.

You will probably need a CO2 source. The easiest would be to ship out one of those small CO2 gassers and half a dozen cartridges. Don't take these in your luggage or you will get the "special" search at the airport.

I really do want to hear how your shipping adventure goes.