Highlights

• Stardew Valley offers more than just farming - players can also build romantic relationships and get married to one of six bachelorettes in the game.
• Each bachelorette has a unique background story, interests, and gift preferences that players must navigate to successfully romance them.
• The article provides a ranking of the bachelorettes, highlighting the best and worst options for marriage based on the rewards and gifts they offer.

Life in the quiet and idyllic Pelican Town in Stardew Valley isn't just all about farming, mining, and foraging. Although developing a flourishing farm and home to make grandfather proud once he finally reappears to evaluate all the process is definitely a central part of the game, there's also the option of building a lasting romance and getting married.

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Players wanting to marry any of the bachelorettes of Stardew Valley have six options to choose from. Each of these characters is quite different from one another with interesting background stories, their own unique gifts, as well as the perks they provide once they actually move into the household. Here's all of them, ranked from worst to best.

Updated September 23rd, 2023: Romancing the Bachelorettes in Stardew Valley can be a bit difficult depending on who players pick. Not only do they need to know where they frequent and what they're interested in, but they'll also have to sift through a variety of gift items to discover what they like and don't like to ensure they don't harm their relationship moving forward. To better help players manage how to romance the Bachelorettes in Stardew Valley, the following guide has been updated with tables for easy gifting choices.

6 Haley

Haley doesn't seem to have much depth to her character and comes across as superficial. However, through her interest in photography and the consecutive heart events, she starts to show a more complex side. In fact, it might just be the lack of proper parenting that has made her a bit snobby, given that her parents are out of the house permanently and just travel the world.

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Haley After Marriage

After marriage, some of the best items Haley can offer most commonly to the player include hashbrowns (+1 farming) and pancakes (+2 foraging). Otherwise, the foods she offers are pretty basic items, making her the bachelorette with the least amount of reward. Rainy days and nights might yield some better gifts like maple bars (+1 farming, fishing, and mining) and eggplant parmesan (+1 mining and +2 defense).

Haley's room in the farmhouse after marriage is a cute tropical theme, which fits with her love of coconuts and fruit salad. Her most common gifts, however, don't make her a worthwhile spouse to go for out of all the bachelorettes.

5 Leah

Leah is the artistic one of all the bachelorettes and lives by herself just outside of Marnie's farm. She's a sculptor and painter looking for a breakthrough but doesn't have the confidence to go forward. The player can encourage her to pursue her interests either by setting up an art show in Pelican Town or by starting an online shop to sell her pieces. There's also the matter of her jealous ex-partner Kel, who makes an appearance later on.

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Leah After Marriage

Unfortunately, the gifts that she offers once married aren't that interesting, especially if the player has converted their cave into a mushroom one. Leah will mostly give mushrooms on rainy mornings. Otherwise, she'll gift other common foraged items like horseradish, leek, and dandelions.

The best item she gives is coffee, which boosts speed by +1. Her room in the farmhouse becomes an artist's studio with paint buckets and a canvas.

4 Maru

Maru is the daughter of Demetrius and Robin. She has a huge interest in science and medicine, which has her working at Harvey's clinic as well. Although initially, her storyline doesn't seem anything special, Maru's working on something big. Eventually, she invents a highly sentient robot, which results in an emotional scene with Demetrius who has been suspicious of the player's character all this time.

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Maru After Marriage

On the bright side, Maru's own gifts after marriage aren't too bad. She might give a warp totem to the farm, fertilizer, or bombs. Crab cakes (+1 speed and +1 defense) and fried mushrooms (+2 attack) are the best foods she can offer.

Still, given how expensive it can be to efficiently level up a friendship with her, it doesn't seem like a worthy trade. Maru's chambers on the farm have a distinct space theme with a telescope, computers, and other machinery.

3 Emily

Emily's easy to find on most nights working at the saloon, which is why getting close to her is no challenge. She's a unique and quirky character, with an interest in dreams, energies, and meditation. Her storyline isn't anything too dramatic and mostly consists of her sending cooking recipes to the player, which is a nice change of pace. At the same time, it can feel a bit lackluster. However, the first heart scene where the player enters her dreams, as well as the clothing therapy scene really showcase Emily's uplifting personality.

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Emily After Marriage

Emily's own gifts after marriage include all things related to cloth and wool and even duck feathers. The best food items she can give are bean hotpot (+30 maximum energy, +32 magnetism) and coffee (+1 speed), and as a bonus, she might even give omni geodes, which are excellent as they can contain a variety of resources once brought to Clint.

Overall, she's a pretty decent choice for marriage, and the trade between the gifts is somewhat equal. Emily's room in the farmhouse features a parrot and a table with some sewing equipment, with colors and patterns perfectly reflecting her originality.

2 Penny

Penny lives together in a trailer with her mother Pam, and knowing what Pam is like, it's easy to see why Penny wants to work harder and organize her life. She may not have huge life ambitions herself, but she comes across as very mature and down to earth. Her storyline doesn't have major twists and turns or huge drama, but it's still a nice peek into her mind and her struggles. It's even more heartbreaking to know that Penny hates all things alcohol, most likely due to Pam's drinking habits.

Penny After Marriage

Penny's own gifts after marriage are among the best because she has a high chance of giving a geode or mixed seeds. Moreover, she offers a bunch of meals with special effects such as hashbrowns (+1 farming), pancakes (+2 foraging), crispy bass (+64 magnetism), and even fried eel (+1 luck).

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Penny's room in the farmhouse turns into a small reading room of sorts, with bookshelves and a table with pillows to sit at. Overall, she's among the top bachelorettes due to her incredible gifts.

1 Abigail

Abigail might be considered a bit of a weirdo by a lot of players, but there's a reason why. She's also seen as the "best girl" of Stardew Valley. Not only is she iconic, but she also has her own unique style and strong personality. Her story is that of a girl struggling to be recognized for her inner strength, and she desperately wants to show how tough she is. Her interests include fighting with a sword, video games, the flute, and using a spirit board. As Pierre's daughter, she seems to feel out of place in the face of her parents' expectations.

Abigail is usually at the saloon during Friday evenings.

Abigail After Marriage

Abigail as a married partner will give very valuable gifts, including solar essence and void essence, as well as bombs. Since these are monster drops and harder to farm for, she actually has great utility as a spouse. The best meals she can offer are tom kha soup (+2 farming, +30 maximum energy), trout soup (+1 fishing), chowder (+1 fishing), lobster bisque (+3 fishing, +50 maximum energy), fried mushroom (+2 attack), and crab cakes (+1 speed, +1 defense).

Abigail's new room in the farmhouse will have a drum set, a console, a sword, and a TV, along with what looks to be a hamster cage. All in all, she's just a great bachelorette with how much she gives back in the end, the trade-off making her the best bachelorette in the game.

Stardew Valley was released on February 26, 2016, and is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation Vita, Android, and iOS.

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