The Wedding

Man, what a night! What a beautiful wedding. An exhausting weekend, but well worth the time and drive.
My good friends Nick and Helen got married. And mua was the best man. Ahem.
Anyway, the wedding banquet was held on the ship The Odyssey. That was special, what with the Chicago skyline in the background, and the usual summer-weekends fireworks display, which made for a spectacular ending to an unforgettable evening.
This would be my 2nd time being best man. This time, I had to wear a tux. Also, it was different in that it was an American crowd, and people actually listened to the speeches of the fathers of the bride and groom, best man and maid of honour. People weren't rushing to eat or drink. So, we all did what was natural to us; we all shared our special memories and tributes to these two special people. Me, I had to tell them about the time Nick zinged his eyebrows while lighting the barbeque, because that crazy pyromaniac emptied a whole bottle of starter fluid into the charcoal. I felt comfortable talking, and if I may say so, think I gave a pretty good speech (ahem). I actually felt appreciated.
Naturally, after the speech, and not having to stay sober anymore, I got plastered, at the dinner and later at a friend's room where she brought some vodka to share. It was a great night. But no, for those who are wondering about that rumour that the best man gets lucky; no, nothing else happened .

For more pictures of the night, click here.

The newlyweds' first dance:

This was the bouquet toss at the end of the wedding (the bride was trying to aim for a particular person!):

This was my special gift to them; a wedding music video (not to be mistaken for the professionally taken video of the night). Click here for the higher res video (30 Mbs, you'll need broadband).