RELATED: Stardew Valley: Best Things To Buy From JojaMart
There are twelve candidates — six bachelors and six bachelorettes — that the player can choose to romance and potentially marry. Each is unique, and will appeal to different players. Romancing each individual requires accounting for each NPC’s preferences and personality, but the overall process of building a relationship and getting married in Stardew Valley remains the same.
Increasing Friendship
To win over a potential spouse, players must increase their relationship by talking to them regularly, giving them gifts, performing quests, and more. There are plenty of ways to raise one’s heart level with a character, but the easiest and fastest is through gifts. Click on a character in the Social tab (the tab with the heart) of the game’s menu to see their gift preferences. Alternatively, check out this guide for suggestions on the best gifts in the game.
Players can give an NPC up to two gifts per week, plus an extra gift on their birthday, which can be found on the calendar outside Pierre’s store. Birthday gifts will count for 8x the usual friendship points, so choose these presents extra carefully!
Starting A Relationship
Once the player reaches eight hearts with at least one bachelor or bachelorette, they will receive a letter from Pierre. He will note that the player appears to be growing close to some of the townsfolk, and remark that it is a local tradition to give bouquets to indicate romantic interest. At that point, the player will be able to purchase a Bouquet from Pierre’s shop for 600g.
RELATED: Stardew Valley: How To Fish
Upon gifting a bouquet to a marriage candidate, if they are at eight hearts with the player, they will react with delighted surprise and declare that they feel the same way. At this time, the final two grayed-out hearts in their social gauge will open up, and the player can build their relationship to ten hearts. In the social menu, that character will also be listed as the player’s “boyfriend” or “girlfriend.”
Before getting married, the player can have as many boyfriends and/or girlfriends as they wish (although dating all the bachelors or all the bachelorettes at once may lead to a cutscene calling the player out). However, once the player is married, giving a bouquet to another NPC will upset their spouse.
Proposal & Wedding
On rainy days, an NPC called the Old Mariner will appear on the eastern side of the Beach. If the player has reached ten hearts with one of the bachelors or bachelorettes and has upgraded the Farmhouse at least once, he will offer to sell them a Mermaid Pendant. In the local tradition of Stardew Valley, this necklace is like an engagement ring: presenting it to one’s beloved serves as a marriage proposal. Players can purchase it for 5,000 Gold.
To propose, players must have 10 hearts with their boyfriend or girlfriend, then give the Mermaid Pendant to their intended as they would any other gift. Similar to the bouquet, the recipient will react joyfully and agree to marry the player. Three days after the proposal, as soon as the player wakes up, a cutscene will play of the marriage ceremony in the town square. Afterwards, the player and their new spouse will appear on the farmhouse porch at 6am, ready to start the first day of their life together.
MORE: All Weapon Types In Stardew Valley, Explained
