Thusshe’ issued the certificate: that the parties were legally married – “her” marriage was valid and continued at the time of the application to the court andshe’ was entitled to formal recognition under the law of England and Wales. Is the marriage entitled to recognition in England and Wales? If the answer to this question isno’, the certificate cannot be issued. Asshe’ has stated, a marriage that is solemn or consumed in accordance with the law of the place where it is solemn or consumed is normally entitled to recognition as a valid marriage under English law. However, this does not mean that they were in opposition to each other, one wanted a declaration of the validity of “his” “marriage” and the other declared that it was not a valid marriage. The difficulty in this case, however, was that the Republic of Somaliland was not recognised as a State by the United Kingdom at the time of the conclusion of that marriage. Are the parties legally married? If the answer to this question is no, the declaration cannot be made. About ten days later, they went to the local district court where their marriage was confirmed and an official marriage certificate issued. On March 7, 2013, they attended a religious ceremony in Somaliland for the wedding. This does not necessarily mean that they will be recognized as married according to the laws of England and Wales. It is generally quite clear that a foreign marriage is recognized here, but sometimes it is not so clear. If you would like advice on a family law matter, you can find more articles here or contact our Customer Service team to speak to one of our family law lawyers. Later in the day, they organized a “wedding” which was attended by many family members and friends. The “woman” was born and raised in Somaliland and lived there for the “wedding”.