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50th Anniversary Party (held at firehall - need EVERYTHING)
I'm starting to plan ILs anniversary party for this time next year. It is mainly going to be their church friends and our family. It's a rural area where firehall receptions are the norm and so far I haven't found a good option for a restaurant that is convenient and large enough to accommodate the crowd that I think we'll have. I haven't ever thrown this large of a party or a party larger than 20 people "off-site" where I'll basically need to take absolutely everything with me. Anything basic categories I'm not thinking of. Anything special we can do to commemorate the anniversary? We plan to have people write their memories and put them in a book as well as doing a photo slideshow. I feel like this is going to be sorta lame bc I'm not used to this type of setting or parties without alcohol. 
Guest List, Food & Drink, Decorations, Photographer/Music
Re: 50th Anniversary Party (held at firehall - need EVERYTHING)
How many people? What sort of budget? What time of day?
Is anyone living there that can guide you to a person that could help? A florist or photographer would be a good place because they could help you. You mentioned church friends, so you might contact the church secretary. Find out if they have a wedding coordinator. I'd venture one of those people could get you started.
My thoughts are to keep it simple for 90% of the party and throw in some really special wow factor that will mean something to them. If they are really into food focus on getting that. Maybe getting replicas of the bridal bouquet for the centerpieces. My mom has always said the one disappointment from her wedding was the photography. If we do a big party I'll spend some cash for that.
Will you have access to any sort of kitchen?
Aside from getting a rough idea of a guest list (30 people or 300?), I think starting with food would be the way to go because it's the most expensive and most challenging to achieve. Call around to caterers and get an idea of costs and see if that works within your budget.
A word of warning - unless you plan to pay for this all yourself, get buy-in from relatives early that they plan to contribute financially. After you get estimates, go to them and say, "we have three options: A is $300 each, B is $400 each, C is $500" and get buy-in again. Don't act without financial agreement from everybody. Money & family don't mix, so go carefully.
And yeah, parties in those types of venues are really hard to decorate. MIL does wedding flowers occasionally and the last time she did GIANT arrangements in the center of the room to distract people. And I mean giant - the pedestals the arrangements were sitting on were taller than she was and the arrangements added another 4 ft for a total of 10 ft. But she just did clippings of elaeagnus and other things from her yard to get the scale and volume and only used a few bunches of actual flowers, so they cost very little.
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I don't know your budget but a live band would really kick this party up a notch. Maybe a band that plays oldies from the time the anniversary couple were dating. That would be fun for everyone.
As for food, maybe find a caterer that does food from your in-law's nationality. I know if I ever threw this type of party there had better be Polish food!
Have one of the groomsmen or bridesmaids from their wedding give a toast. See if you can track down any of their old friends who could come to town for the party. That kind of thing is so meaningful.
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I think you need to break down your basic categories to make sure you aren't leaving anything out
So food: appetizers, main food, sides, dessert, cake, kids
Drinks: alcohol, non-alcohol, ice
Don't forget cups, plates, flatware, serving utensils, dishes, sterno
Decorations: Table decorations and around the room stuff
Decorations: Maybe do something cool with photos of them through the years like this for the tables?