Is the signing of the Nikkah the legal part of the marriage that is done with an Adoul?

Is this then, the official marriage date. I'm getting married in Morocco (hopefully) later this year and I want my wedding date to be December 15th. My fiance and I will be doing a lot of travelling prior to getting married and I don't want to have problems getting a motel. In an earier post of mine someone suggested doing the Nikkah first, but I thought that was the actual marriage. I'm so confused. Any help would be fantastic and very much appreciated.

The Nikkah is the actual marriage --the actual marriage in Islam is the contract.

Wedding could mean the party, there is a word for the marriage party but I cannot think of it... People don't always do it at the same time.

Go back and look under discover, I asked a question about non-Muslims traveling and getting hotel rooms.

When I was just a fiancee and we did NOT intend on getting a room together we still had problems. Since you are going to be wearing hijab (I believe you said that before). They will assume you are Muslim and then if you refer back to my question you will see that you will probably have problems too.

The actual date will be the day the contract is signed. Muslims don't generally celebrate anniversaries and the like so I don't think anyone would care if you wanted to count your party as the date :) -but official papers will have the contract date.

Nikkah is the marriage contract. In Muslim tradition in most cultures, the wedding parties sign a nikkah, so islamically they are married, but culturally they still call themselves engaged until the actual "wedding celebration".
The actual party is a formal way of celebrating and announcing the marriage, however once the nikkah is signed the marriage is islamically official, so lets say after signing the nikkah but before the actual wedding celebration the couple decide to break it off, they will need to get a divorce.
Because the are bound by their nikkah contract.
Even though they are married, but havent had the "wedding" yet, sexual contact is obstained.
Its a cultural thing.
Even if the bride and groom did have sexual relations after the nikkah is signed, but before the "wedding" it isnt a sin, because they are islamically married.
The nikkah however can be signed at anytime...even on the very day of the wedding.
Usually however in most muslim countries it is signed before.

The word Fez is scratching her brain for is walima. Nikkah is the legal part of the marriage. Traditionally here there is often a party that night also. It maybe the night before the walima or months b4. Walima is the wedding party.

Do the nikkah right away that way you avoid sin.

As far as couples avoiding sex after the nikkah but before the walima I don't see that to be the case here nor is it necessary.