Marriage in Stardew Valley is a friendship goal with a clear finish line. The route is identical for every candidate, so the real choices are who and how fast. The "who" is personal — each candidate's heart events tell a different story. The "how fast" comes down to three habits: talk every day, give loved gifts, and never miss a birthday.
The steps to marriage
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1
Raise friendship to 8 hearts
Talk to them daily and give gifts. Without dating, friendship with a candidate stops at 8 hearts.
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2
Give a Bouquet to start dating
Buy it at Pierre's General Store for 200g and give it at 8 hearts. This unlocks hearts 9 and 10.
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3
Reach 10 hearts and upgrade your house
The first house upgrade (from Robin) is required before you can propose.
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4
Buy and give the Mermaid's Pendant
5,000g from the Old Mariner on the beach, only on rainy days. Give it to your partner to propose.
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5
The wedding
Three days after the proposal. Your spouse then moves into your farmhouse.
All 12 candidates: birthdays and easy loved gifts
"Easy" here means gifts you can get early or buy, not the full loved list. Universal loves — Prismatic Shard, Rabbit's Foot, Pearl, Golden Pumpkin and Magic Rock Candy — work on all of them.
| Candidate | Birthday | Easy loved gifts |
|---|---|---|
| Abigail | Fall 13 | Amethyst (early mines), Pumpkin, Chocolate Cake |
| Alex | Summer 13 | Complete Breakfast, Salmon Dinner |
| Elliott | Fall 5 | Duck Feather, Crab Cakes, Pomegranate |
| Emily | Spring 27 | Gems such as Amethyst and Ruby, Cloth, Wool |
| Haley | Spring 14 | Sunflower, Coconut, Pink Cake |
| Harvey | Winter 14 | Coffee (Saloon), Pickles, Wine |
| Leah | Winter 23 | Salad (Saloon), Goat Cheese, Wine |
| Maru | Summer 10 | Strawberry, Cauliflower, Gold Bar, Diamond |
| Penny | Fall 2 | Melon, Poppy, Diamond |
| Sam | Summer 17 | Pizza (Saloon), Cactus Fruit, Maple Bar |
| Sebastian | Winter 10 | Frozen Tear (mines), Obsidian, Sashimi |
| Shane | Spring 20 | Beer and Pizza (Saloon), Hot Pepper |
Birthday gifts count eight times. A loved gift on a candidate's birthday is worth as much as a whole month of ordinary loved gifts. Put your partner's birthday in your head before anything else, and keep a loved gift in a chest for it.
How friendship actually grows
- Talk every day. It is free and adds up. Friendship slowly drops if you ignore someone for long, and a partner you are dating expects attention.
- Two gifts a week, plus the birthday. Each villager accepts two gifts per week. Loved gifts are worth far more than liked ones; disliked and hated gifts lose friendship.
- Watch the heart events. Each candidate has events at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 14 hearts, triggered by entering certain places at certain times. They are the story you are marrying into.
- Quality matters for some gifts. Higher-quality versions of a loved item add more friendship, so a gold-star crop beats a regular one.
You can date more than one candidate at a time, but it has consequences in their relationships — some of them will notice. If you want a calm route, give the Bouquet to one person.
After the wedding
- Your spouse helps on the farm. On some mornings they water crops, feed animals, repair fences or fill your pet's bowl.
- They get their own room in your farmhouse, and an outdoor area on the farm that reflects their personality.
- Friendship can go up to 14 hearts after marriage, with a final heart event.
- Children: after your house's second upgrade adds a nursery, your spouse may ask about having a child. You can have up to two.
- Divorce: Mayor Lewis's house, 50,000g. Your ex will remember it; the shrine in the Witch's Hut can erase the memory for a price.
For a full gift list for everyone in town, see the Gift Guide. For the 5,000g pendant and the house upgrade, the Money Making Guide covers the fastest early income, and the Beginner Guide covers your first season.
★Honest Take: marry for the story, not the perks
Spouse perks in Stardew Valley are small and similar — a watered field here, a fed barn there. What differs is the person: their heart events, their worries and how they change through the 10- and 14-heart scenes. Pick the character whose story you want to see to the end, use the birthday trick to get there quickly, and the rest of the route takes care of itself.
