My Moroccan wedding

This display represents about 1/20th of the cookies at the party.

Glasses ready to be filled with mint tea.

Getting into my first outfit/accessories with the help of my official dresser

I'm ready!

Soren's outfit was a little less elaborate than mine.

Our grand entrance.

I'm getting ready to be hoisted up in my awesome canopy.

Dancing with one of the younger guests.

Our second outfits and our second entrance.

This time we both get to go up!

Lots of singing, shouting and swaying to the great music.

Soren was instructed to kiss me on the forehead - it was a little tricky up there!

Back on the ground, feeding each other milk and dates and exchanging rings. Then we got to kiss for real.

I'm happy because Soren gave me a really sweet, big kiss.

Jouhara giving Soren a big hug as the party comes to an end.

The musicians' cheat sheets for our names. This one says "Emily (her)."

And this one says "Soren (him)"

Soren and me recovering the next day.

Almost exactly three years ago to the day, Soren and I were in Morocco having our second wedding. Let me explain! I first visited Morocco in the spring of 2002 when I studied in Rabat for a semester and lived with the El Idrissi family. I became very close to them, especially to my sister Jouhara, and I visited them again in 2005. In 2008, I decided it was time for Soren to meet my family and visit Morocco so we traveled there together in the summer. To mark our visit, and to properly welcome Soren into the family, Jouhara threw us a wedding party.

I had been talking about the party with Jouhara on the phone for months but I still had no concept of how serious it was going to be until we got to Morocco. It was basically a full-on wedding. I got my hair done. We made hundreds and hundreds of cookies for the guests. We rented extra chairs, glasses and plates. We hired servers and musicians. There was even a videographer. I certainly felt like I was getting married again! No matter how long I live I will never forget that day.