Marriage in Stardew Valley 1.6: Honeymoon Phase, Spouse Portraits, and Every Change

Moving in with someone is rarely smooth, in real life or in Pelican Town. Stardew Valley 1.6 softens the awkward first week of married life with a proper honeymoon phase, calmer spouse moods, and a handful of quieter adjustments most players miss on their first farm.

This guide walks through the full marriage process under 1.6 and breaks down every change ConcernedApe rolled into the update.

How Marriage Works in Stardew Valley 1.6

The core loop has not changed. Pick a partner, build the relationship, hand over an unusual piece of jewelry, and three days later you are married. Version 1.6 keeps that flow intact and instead tweaks what happens after the wedding.

If you are new to the game or returning after a long break, here is the short version.

Step 1: Pick a Bachelor or Bachelorette

There are no gender restrictions in Stardew Valley. Any of the twelve eligible villagers will accept a proposal from any farmer, provided the relationship is strong enough.

The romance candidates are:

• Abigail
• Alex
• Elliott
• Emily
• Haley
• Harvey
• Leah
• Maru
• Penny
• Sam
• Sebastian
• Shane

Each of them has a distinct personality and a specific list of loved, liked, disliked, and hated gifts. Matching those preferences is the fastest way to climb their heart meter without grinding generic interactions.

Tip: If you cannot decide, check the Stardew Valley Spouse Tier List for a quick read on who tends to be the easiest and most rewarding partner.

Step 2: Build the Relationship

No villager will say yes if you have barely spoken to them. The reliable way to raise affection is gifts, twice per week, focused on items they love. Random conversations and remembering birthdays speed things up too.

Heart icons next to each portrait in the social menu show exactly where you stand. Ignore a partner for too long, give them something they hate, or skip their birthday, and that meter slides backward. Stardew is not subtle about hurt feelings.

Step 3: Propose and Hold the Wedding

Once you reach 10 hearts, a proposal becomes possible. Instead of a ring, local custom calls for a Mermaid's Pendant, which costs 5,000g from the Old Mariner at the Beach.

A few conditions apply before he shows up:

• The bridge to the eastern part of the Beach must be repaired.
• It must be a rainy day.

Hand the pendant to your chosen partner, hear them say yes, and the ceremony takes place three in-game days later.

The New Honeymoon Phase

This is the headline change in 1.6. The first seven days after the wedding now count as a honeymoon period. During that window, your spouse is far less likely to become sad or irritable about the upheaval of moving onto a farm with someone they met a couple of seasons ago.

In earlier versions, newly married NPCs often spent entire days moping in bed, which made it nearly impossible to grow the relationship past the ceremony. The honeymoon phase essentially fixes the post-marriage slump.

The hidden depression threshold for spouses is also tunable in the background. You cannot see the meter, but consistent attention, gifts, and conversations keep partners above the line and stop bad moods from cascading. For the full patch breakdown, see the official Stardew Valley 1.6 changelog.

Other Marriage Changes in 1.6

The honeymoon is the headline, but several smaller adjustments are worth knowing:

• Spouse portraits at 14 hearts. Reach 14 hearts after marriage and you unlock a framed portrait of your partner, ready to hang on a wall inside the farmhouse.
• Slower friendship gains after marriage. Heart growth with a spouse is now roughly 33% slower than before, so the climb past 14 hearts takes more in-game time.
• Fewer negative afternoon lines. The chance of a spouse saying something passive-aggressive in the afternoon dropped to about 5%.
• No more crop sabotage drama. Spouses no longer water other players' crops on multiplayer farms, and they have stopped lying about chores they never finished.
• Invisible spouse bug fixed. The old issue where a ghost partner asked you for children is gone.

Marriage in 1.6 still rewards patience and gift-giving, but the early days now feel less like a slow breakup and more like the start of a new chapter on the farm.