nobody on the 'friends of nemo' list of blogs has mentioned their experiences this weekend, and, thus, the onus is on me.

the wedding was fantastic. absolutely fantastic. i think i screwed up twice, but only the groom and myself noticed. or perhaps a few others, but nothing major. and, of course, no amount of rud screw-ups could possibly put a damper on the experience.

it's well-documented that they're perfect for each other, and it's well-documented that this has been a foregone conclusion for several years.

treem made a fantastic observation this morning...as he watched the festivities unfold, he observed seemingly-unrelated people speaking with each other. a mother of bride and random student. a sibling of bride and a friend of groom. a 'cat and an illini. trying to make the connection...no connection. but they clearly knew each other - not a first-chance meeting. the point? these people have been together for so long, and are such strong presences in each other's lives, that there's no 'his friend' and 'her friend' any more...all of their friends know all of their other friends, or something. makes no sense, but perhaps you understand.

rough summary of what happened:
thursday - left peoria before the game. determined this wouldn't be a problem. home by 1030, saw annie and the boy, asleep by 130.

friday - out the door at 752. arrived at treem's at 845. waited for jenny and crew. waited longer. after detour, on the road by 934 or so. learned that i don't like caravaning, mostly because i'm incapable of maintaining the same speed for more than three straight minutes. jittery.

friday later - arrived in ypsi at 215 ish. wanted to sleep, but it was too late. down to the rehearsal at 415. i was overdressed. [d was in jeans!] but not that overdressed. got the itinerary. ate a fantastic dinner. choked when given the chance to make a speech. ["i like you better when she's here," is the highlight of the unsaid speech.] went to the bowling alley to purchase wedding-gift-related gift certificates for the couple. drank lots. played darts poorly. drank more. returned to the hotel. got a call from nemo. "can you be up by 9 or so tomorrow?" me (hesitating): "i guess."

saturday - actually up by 9 or so. downstairs by 915. introduced to the soundsystem and, therefore, the scope of my responsibilities. bought water at walmart and cables at radio shack. back by 11. thought about lunch. finally left for lunch with the whole crew at 1230, needing to be back (for treem's photo 'water boy' duties and so that i could give dave nemo his tie - i don't know how it actually wound up there, but nemo thought my tv was a good spot for the dave tie) by 128. we returned at 132, but didn't delay the proceedings much. wandered around for a time. went to the ballroom to start setting up equipment. soon, 240 came. i showered. changed. came back to see the soundsystem mostly set up. we tested. had some success. not much. is it possible that this is a mono cable? my question to alan, and the most important question of the night. but for a hum, the soundsystem was fine.

saturday night - we figured out the soundsystem at 428. ceremony at 430. got in with treem, found harper and the rest of the crew. sat. teared up early in the process, but not after. by 5 the ceremony was over, and by 512 i had my first of several, several 7-and-7's on the night. woof. at 552, nemo briefly joined me in the ballroom. nothing was working. "you know, this isn't really what i'd like to be thinking about right now." "yeah. sorry." eventually it was fixed, thankfully. "eye of the tiger" was the intro music, and i nailed - for the most part - the announcements. i sweated (sweat?) a bit during them, of course. [the wedding was in a 'climate-controlled' tent outside. i was pit-stained by the end of the ceremony. jacket remained on all night.] best man jeff slayed with his "the two most important people here...but the bartenders are busy" joke. and then, soon enough later, the party was on. "i have two important announcements. first, there's fruit now available. it's behind me, in the buffet room. enjoy. secondly, let's bring on the bride and groom." (their dance had a mistake at the end...but not my mistake...the mp3 clip was probably about 6 seconds too short, so the note just cut off. sigh.) at that point, my job was mostly done. ask if you have more questions.

the rest of the night was generally uneventful.

sunday - as expected, brunch. as not expected, paid for by mr. nemo. some goodbyes, some hugs, some cheek-kisses (i'm an overagressive cheek-kisser, it turns out). out by 1237 eastern, home by 6 central. and that was it.

it was all fantastic. absolutely fantastic. work begins now.

[the unmentioned highlight, of course, was seeing everybody. the entire e2 crew. posed e2 photo and everything. the nemo family. the nemo mom, who unnecessarily introduced herself to me, i'm hoping because she was really enjoying shaking hands and giving hugs and simply hadn't noticed who was next. mostly, all of e2.

a word on e2: tina came from seattle. jenny from chicago. i from iowa. didi from atlanta. ben from d.c. nemo from his house. i think that sort of speaks to the fantastic-ness of nemo and carrie. plus treem from l.a.)

that's all i've got...