If you’re a farmer and you want a wife, or husband, you’re in luck. Friendships and marriage are a big part of Stardew Valley. It’s possible to play it alone, without any NPC help, but you’ll be missing out on a large portion of the game and lots of fun too.

Head to Pelican Town and speak with all of the inhabitants. When you develop relationships with them certain cut-scenes will be unlocked during parts of the game. You can also earn bonus items from people who trust you the most.

So let’s have a look at how this works!

Socializing

In the menu the third tab along is the social tab (the one with the heart). Here you’ll be able to see your relationships with others and how much they like you. You can also see their relationship status, whether they are single, and how much they like you. Ten male and ten female NPCs can be wooed into marriage.

Next to each person’s name you can see a row of hearts indicating how affectionate they are towards you and how many gifts you’ve given this person this week.

Building Affection

There are two basic ways you can build affection with NPCs in Stardew Valley, giving gifts and completing quests.

Giving gifts is the most reliable way to gain affection but you must make sure you’re giving them a gift that they actually want and each NPC is different. You can figure out what they want by talking with them, speaking with other NPCs or through trial and error. If you give them the wrong gift you may lose some affection.

You can only give a few gifts to each NPC each week and you’ll need to wait at least two days between gifts. Gifts are especially important on NPC birthdays so make sure you keep track of whose birthday is coming up.

To give a gift to someone equip the gift in your hotkey and right click on an NPC. That’s all there is to it. If you’ve given them something they like you’ll receive a boost to your affection score with them.

Completing quests is another way to improve your relationships with other the people of Stardew Valley. You can find out about quests in two ways. First make sure you check your mailbox as quests from various NPCs will be mailed to you. Not only will you earn money but usually an increase in your affection rating.

You can also find out about quests by checking the bulletin board outside of Pierre’s General Store. These quests usually don’t stay around for long and you’ll only have a couple of days to complete them. Available quests will have an exclamation mark next to them.

Aside from special cut-scenes NPCs who like you will give you gifts and special recipes. If you build a strong enough bond with one of them they may even marry you!

Marriage

If you think you’re ready to tie the knot and have someone spend time with you on the farm then you’ll need to follow these steps to get married.

First off you’ll need to make sure that the person you are interested in has at least 8 hearts. Any less than this and you won’t be able to proceed. If they’re not there yet keep giving them gifts and doing any quests for them

Before someone moves in with you you’ll want to upgrade your home. Buy a double bed and upgrade your kitchen so it’s big enough for the both of you. You can upgrade your house in the Carpenter’s Shop.

Assuming your true love is at at least 8 hearts head over to Pierre’s shop and buy the Bouquet for 100 Gold. You will only be able  to buy the Bouquet once you have someone to 8 hearts. With the Bouquet in your possession head over to your future partner and give them the flowers.

At this point you still need to improve your affection up to the full 10 hearts before they will marry you. Keep giving them gifts they like until they are full of affection for you.

Once they are at 10 hearts you’ll need to wait for a rainy day. Who thought getting married would be so tricky! Go to the beach and find the Old Man among the tidal pools. Build a bridge over to him for 300 Wood and then buy the Mermaid’s Pendant for 5,000 Gold.

Give the Pendant to your boyfriend/girlfriend and after 3 days you’ll be married. Hip-hip-hooray!

Married couples have 12 hearts instead of the usual 10. If your partner is happy they’ll do various chores for you around the farm.

Head back to the Stardew Valley Walkthrough.