Marriage in Stardew Valley is the game’s slow-burn reward: a permanent farmhand, a rebuilt farmhouse room, daily gifts and eventually children. Getting there is not complicated, but the steps happen in a strict order and skipping one leaves players stuck at eight hearts wondering why the romance stopped progressing. Here is the exact sequence, the twelve candidates, and everything the wiki summaries usually leave out.
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How to Marry in Stardew Valley: The Complete Steps
To marry someone, raise a marriage candidate to eight hearts, give them a Bouquet bought from Pierre’s General Store to become their partner, then continue to ten hearts. Upgrade your farmhouse at least once through Robin so there is a kitchen and space for a spouse. Buy the Mermaid’s Pendant from the Old Mariner, who appears on the far right of the Beach across the wooden bridge on rainy days, and give it to your ten-heart partner. The wedding takes place three days later at six in the morning, the whole town attends, and your spouse moves in permanently. There are twelve candidates, six bachelors and six bachelorettes, plus Krobus who can move in as a non-romantic roommate.
| Game | Platform | Genre | Why It’s Great | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stardew Valley | PC, Switch, PS, Xbox, Mobile | Farming sim RPG | Twelve fully written romance options and a farm you can build for a decade | 10/10 |
| Rune Factory 4 Special | Switch, PC, PS, Xbox | Farming action RPG | Dungeon crawling plus marriage, children and town events | 8.5/10 |
| Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town | GBA, Switch, PC | Farming sim | The template every modern farm sim romance borrows from | 8.5/10 |
| Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life | Switch, PC, PS, Xbox | Farming sim | Marriage genuinely changes the whole multi-chapter story | 7.5/10 |
| My Time at Sandrock | PC, Switch, PS, Xbox | Crafting sim RPG | Fully voiced romance arcs with unique dates for each partner | 8.5/10 |
| Coral Island | PC, Switch, PS, Xbox | Farming sim | A large romanceable cast and an island to restore alongside them | 8.0/10 |
| Fields of Mistria | PC | Farming sim | Gorgeous pixel art and a warm cast, already strong in early access | 8.5/10 |
| Animal Crossing: New Horizons | Nintendo Switch | Life sim | No romance, but the best villager relationships and island decorating | 9.0/10 |
Step One: Choose From the Twelve Marriage Candidates
The bachelors are Alex, Elliott, Harvey, Sam, Sebastian and Shane. The bachelorettes are Abigail, Emily, Haley, Leah, Maru and Penny. Every candidate is available to every player regardless of the gender you chose at character creation. Each has a distinct heart-event chain, and several of those events are genuinely substantial pieces of writing, with Shane’s and Penny’s storylines in particular dealing with heavier themes than the pastel art style suggests. Krobus, the shadow merchant in the sewers, is not romanceable but will move in as a roommate once you reach ten hearts with him, which is the option for players who want the household benefits without the romance.
Step Two: Build Hearts With Gifts and Heart Events
You can give any villager two gifts per week, plus one on their birthday which counts for eight times the normal friendship value. Loved gifts are worth far more than liked ones, so learning your target’s favourites early is the single biggest time saver. Universal loves such as Rabbit’s Foot, Prismatic Shard and most cooked dishes work on nearly everyone, but candidate-specific favourites move the bar fastest. Talking to them daily adds friendship too and costs nothing but a few steps on your route. Heart events trigger automatically at set levels when you enter the right location at the right time, and missing one simply means it waits for you. On PC, a precise pointer makes gift-giving menus quicker, and our gaming mouse buying guide covers the options worth buying.
Step Three: The Bouquet at Eight Hearts
Friendship with a marriage candidate is hard-capped at eight hearts until you formally start dating them. Buy the Bouquet from Pierre’s General Store, which stocks it permanently once any candidate reaches eight hearts, and give it to the person you want to date. This unlocks hearts nine and ten and changes their dialogue. You can date multiple candidates at once, but doing so risks the notorious jealousy scenes, where partners catch each other and friendship takes a heavy hit. If you plan to keep options open, be aware the game will make you pay for it socially. For long relationship-building sessions on the sofa, our game controller buying guide covers the best pads for the game.
Step Four: Upgrade the Farmhouse Before You Propose
The game will not let you marry into a one-room shack. Visit Robin at the carpenter shop and buy the first house upgrade, which adds a kitchen, a fridge and a bedroom, and costs gold plus a stack of wood. She takes three days to complete the work. Plan this early, because it is the step players most often forget and it will silently block the proposal. The second upgrade adds a nursery and is required later if you want children, so many players do both while working toward ten hearts. If you play docked on a TV, our gaming monitor buying guide covers displays that make pixel art look crisp.
Step Five: The Mermaid’s Pendant and the Wedding
The Old Mariner appears on the Beach on rainy days, standing on the small pier area to the far right past the wooden bridge that you repair with wood. He only appears when it is actually raining, so winter snow does not count, and he sells the Mermaid’s Pendant for a substantial sum of gold. He will refuse to sell if your partner is below ten hearts or your house is not upgraded. Give the pendant to your partner and they accept immediately; the wedding then takes place three days later, starting at six in the morning in the town square with the whole valley present. Your spouse moves into the farmhouse the next day.
After the Wedding: Spouse Behaviour, Children and Divorce
A married spouse gets their own decorated room attached to the farmhouse and an outdoor area matching their personality. They will water crops, feed animals, repair fences and occasionally cook breakfast, though how often depends on their current hearts, which continue up to fourteen after marriage through daily conversation and gifts. Once you have the nursery upgrade, one of you can propose having a child, and children grow through several stages before becoming toddlers who wander the house. If it goes wrong, the Book of Divorce sits in Mayor Lewis’s manor for a hefty fee. Our gaming headset buying guide, gaming chair buying guide and gaming router buying guide cover the rest of the co-op farming setup.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you propose marriage in Stardew Valley?
Give your ten-heart partner the Mermaid’s Pendant, bought from the Old Mariner who appears on the far right of the Beach on rainy days. Your farmhouse must already have at least the first Robin upgrade, and the wedding then happens automatically three days later at six in the morning.
Can you marry anyone in Stardew Valley?
You can marry any of the twelve marriage candidates regardless of your character’s gender, and Krobus can move in as a platonic roommate. Non-candidate villagers such as Gus, Marnie, Clint or Lewis cannot be romanced or married in the base game without community modifications.
What happens if you date multiple people in Stardew Valley?
Dating several candidates at once is possible after giving each a Bouquet, but the game punishes it with jealousy scenes where partners discover each other, causing significant friendship loss. If you want to reset your romantic situation cleanly, the Wizard sells a potion that erases dating relationships.
How long does it take to get married in Stardew Valley?
With focused daily gifting and conversation, most players reach ten hearts and a completed wedding somewhere between the second season and the end of the first year. The main limiters are the two gifts per week cap, the gold needed for the house upgrade and pendant, and waiting for rainy days.
