Stardew Valley Marriage Candidates, Ranked

Still stuck on who to woo in Stardew Valley? We’re here to help, by ranking the marriage candidates, including newcomers Shane and Emily.

Warning: While we try to keep the major highs and lows of each candidate’s story a secret, there are some spoilers here and there for late-game events in Stardew Valley. Read at your own risk.

You’ve moved to Stardew Valley to start a new life away from the oppressive, vacant life working for the Joja Corporation. It’s inevitable that, in this secluded valley, you’ll find yourself in a romantic situation or two, especially given all the eligible bachelors and bachelorettes running around. You don’t have to get married in Stardew Valley, but given the perks of married life (including one of the game’s elusive Stardrops!), you might want to. But who do you choose?

Two villagers were upgraded to marriage candidates in the recent update–Shane and Emily. Combined with the previously available set, that makes twelve total people you can potentially woo and propose to. Each candidate has five unique relationship events and their own interests, hobbies, and habits before and after marriage. Unless you want to waste a lot of time dumping your hard-earned gold into gifts for all twelve, you may need a bit of guidance before you decide exactly who to court. No worries–we ranked Stardew Valley’s eligible marriage candidates for you:

12 – Sam

To be clear, there’s nothing inherently bad about any of these twelve candidates. But poor Sam is at the bottom of the list for being utterly boring. He’s a nice guy who plays in a band and gets into typical teenager trouble for things like skateboarding in public areas and lying to his mom about breaking eggs. And…that’s it. Both before and after marriage he remains utterly plain. This is all rather odd–he seems to have a ready-built subplot going on with his dad being off in the war, but whatever story that could have given Sam is all handed to his younger brother, Vincent.

At least Sam is nice to you when you first move to town, unlike most of the other candidates. But that niceness never really grows or evolves in the time you take to grow close to him. Maybe that simple, unchanging good-guy playing guitar appeals to some, but I’m looking for a little more substance from my virtual spouse.