Alrighty then.
Many thanks to those of you who took the time to share your knowledge. My apologies for not being more clear in my original post. I do have ample experience with production sound (but not the 20-30 years knowledge base of many other professionals I know) but have none with live sound, and saying 8 speakers in regards to a PA situation is obviously confusing.
Advice given was spot on. "We also need a hand-held mic" and the feedback fun did indeed come to fruition. I explained to the producer before-hand these concerns and to get a PA pro to take care of it. Also the advice on how to get burned by 788 ala pre/post fade recording mixing was very helpful. Auto-mix would have been wonderful, except it was in an expansive hall (even though our area was a small 40 seat cordoned off area) and the din of revelers kept the mics open. Many hours logged with the manual were well worth it, and after using the Nomad 8 and 788T in back to back weeks my 552 looks like the old pair of shoes in the closet.
Anyhow, much respect to the live sound people out there. And much gratitude to those of you who took the time to share your insight, what I think this sound community should be all about.
Cheers,
Alex