A valid marriage has to meet certain requirements such as ishhar (announcement), the payment of the dower, the consent of both parties, the permission of the wali (woman’s guardian), and the presence of witnesses.
Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states: The absolute prerequisites of a valid marriage in Islam are the following: free consent of both parties to the marriage, offer and acceptance, and the presence of two reliable witnesses. It is also important to get the permission of guardian, especially if the woman is a virgin who has never married before. If these conditions have been fulfilled in the court marriage, then it is not absolutely necessary to follow it up with another ceremony. Nevertheless it is still considered advisable to do so to satisfy the social requirement of publicizing the event in your community. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Publicize marriages and beat drums over them!”
Court marriages are not accompanied by publicizing and celebration, and in a marriage both of these elements are never to be underestimated. Ideally speaking, marriage in the view of Islam is not simply a secret contract between two persons; it is as much a social contract to be reckoned and recognized by the society as well.