“Kaatib al-kitaab” is when a couple officially signs the paperwork and become married in the eyes of the state, but do not consider themselves married and do not move in together until after the official wedding ceremony - which is kinda the reverse of how we do it in the States.
We started getting ready around 9 or 10 at our house, with our host aunt and cousins joining us to put make-up on. I let Lena paint my nails green to match the traditional dress they let me borrow, and the girls also did my make-up for me (although Isra and Sophia then had to help me correct it!). We then - all 20 or so of us - all piled into 3 cars (we had 12 people in a 5-person car) to go to our host grandmother’s apartment, which was only five minutes away, where we changed into our traditional clothing. After that we drove about 30 minutes to the home of the family of the bride, where the party took place.
It was 11:30 PM when we arrived, but the women still chanted a traditional Surah from the Quran and ululated (this is a sound that Arab women make when they hear happy news or are at a happy event - I can’t describe it, you’d have to hear it!) as we walked up the stairs to the apartment. Loud music was playing, and the DJ was also singing and making announcements. We were ushered into a side room, where the bride soon joined us to make things official. She was wearing an ornate white dress with a crown and had henna on her hands - she looked really beautiful. Apparently she is from the UAE and the couple met online, which isn’t uncommon here.
The whole process took only 5 minutes or so, but we partied until about 3 AM to celebrate! Everyone danced afterwards (including our host dad!) and took pictures with the bride and groom, then we ate a very late dinner of chicken and beef, and after that more dancing with traditional Moroccan tea and wedding sweets. The bride changed into a yellow dress at some point during the night. Sophia and I were unsure about taking pictures, but the little girls were obsessed with documenting everything so I suppose they helped us out. Even though we didn’t get back until 4 AM, it was still an awesome experience and now we’re even more excited for the wedding!