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An image feature Elliott from Stardew Valley in three different outfits, and the mermaid's pendant.
Images via ConcernedApe. Remixed by Dot Esports.

Stardew Valley Elliott marriage guide

Looking to romance this handsome novelist? Check out our marriage guide for Elliott in Stardew Valley.

While exploring Pelican Town in Stardew Valley, you may have encountered a mysterious cabin on the beach. This house belongs to Elliott, one of the 12 NPCs you can marry, and a writer who moved to the town to work on his next novel.

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If Elliott caught your eye, here’s everything you need to know about romancing and marrying the handsome writer in Stardew Valley.

How to marry Elliott in Stardew Valley

An image from Stardew Valley of Elliott in his cabin greeting the player.
You can find Elliott writing in his cabin on the beach. Screenshot by Dot Esports.

You must meet several requirements before you can propose and marry Elliott. For starters, focus on giving Elliott gifts twice a week to raise your friendship level to eight hearts.

Whenever you reach eight hearts with any bachelor or bachelorette in the game, you’ll receive a letter in the mail from Pierre advertising bouquets. You can purchase one of these bouquets for 200g and gift it to Elliott to indicate your romantic interest and begin dating.

Once you reach 10 hearts with Elliott, you’ll receive another letter in the mail, this time from Mayor Lewis. His letter talks about Mermaid’s Pendants, which you can purchase for 5,000g and gift to propose. You can only purchase Mermaid’s Pendants from the Old Mariner, who spawns on rainy days near the tidal pools at the beach.

After gifting Elliott the Mermaid’s Pendant, you will get married three days later in the town square.

Married life

After you marry Elliott, he will move into the farmhouse and assist you on the farm. Spouses may complete the following tasks if they are happy with you:

  • Watering all crops.
  • Feeding all animals.
  • Filling the pet bowl with water.
  • Repairing broken fences.
  • Giving gifts to the player.

On top of completing chores, Elliott will decorate one of the farmhouse’s rooms and a small exterior space. Elliott’s interior transforms his room into a library, while his exterior creates a potted plant garden just above the righthand entrance to the farm.

If you upgrade the farmhouse and build a nursery, Elliott may randomly ask you one night if you want to have or adopt a child together. If you select yes, you’ll have or adopt a child several days later.

If you aren’t happy with your marriage, you can file for divorce for 50,000g at Mayor Lewis’ house. Once you get divorced, Elliott’s heart bar will go back down to zero and you will never be able to gift him items.

In the late game, you can visit the Witch Hut and spend 30,000g to erase the memory of your ex-spouse, which will allow you to romance them again.

Best gifts for Elliott in Stardew Valley

An image from Stardew Valley of a Pomegranate Tree growing in the Greenhouse.
Pomegranates are Elliott’s favorite fruit. Screenshot by Dot Esports.

Like all other NPCs in Stardew Valley, you can gift Elliot a maximum of two gifts per week to increase his relationship points, also referred to as heart level. On Elliott’s birthday, day five of Fall, you can gift him an extra present to earn eight times the amount of relationship points.

Elliot has a unique list of items he loves, which should always be gifted to maximize the hearts you can build with him. Here is a full table of items that Elliot loves:

ItemHow to obtain
Crab Cakes
An image of the Crab Cake sprite from Stardew Valley.
Cook Crab Cakes with the following items:
x1 Crab
x1 Wheat Flour
x1 Egg
X1 Oil
Duck Feather
An image of the duck feather sprite from Stardew Valley
Dropped by ducks in a coop.
Lobster
An image from Stardew Valley of the Lobster sprite.
Caught in Crab Pots in saltwater.
Pomegranate
An image from Stardew Valley of the Pomegranate sprite.
Grown from Pomegranate Tree saplings.
Squid Ink
An image from Stardew Valley of the Squid Ink sprite.
Defeat Squid Kid enemies in the mines.

OR

Fish for squid, then breed them in a fishing pond.
Tom Kha Soup
An image from Stardew Valley of Tom Kha Soup.
Cook Tom Kha Soup with the following items:
x1 Coconut
x1 Shrimp
x1 Common Mushroom

I recommend using either Pomegranates or Lobsters as the two items you always gift to Elliott, as they are easy to collect. Once you repair the greenhouse, you can plant Pomegranate trees that last year-round for a constant stream of gifts. Alternatively, place Crab Pots in the ocean just outside of Elliott’s house to fetch him some Lobsters.

Like all other characters in Stardew, you can always gift Elliott universally loved items. These include some of the rarest items, such as:

  • Golden Pumpkin
  • Magic Rock Candy
  • Pearl
  • Prismatic Shard
  • Rabbit’s Foot
  • Stardrop Tea

While Elliott will love all these items just as much, they are significantly harder to come by and should be used sparingly.

All Elliott Heart Events in Stardew Valley

An image from Stardew Valley of the social tab, which showcases the heart level of each character.
You can track your heart level in the social tab. Screenshot by Dot Esports.

As you continue to gift Elliott his favorite items, you’ll encounter a total of six different Heart Events, or friendly and romantic cutscenes. These Heart Events typically involve a player choice, which can increase or decrease your relationship depending on what you say.

Each event will trigger depending on the amount of hearts you have with Elliott, which you can view on the social tab. Here is a walkthrough for Elliott’s Heart Events, so you don’t slip over your words and upset this bachelor.

Two Hearts

This event triggers when you have two hearts with Elliott and enter his beachside cabin while he is inside. Elliott will greet you when you walk in and explain why he moved to Pelican Town.

He’ll then ask the player what their favorite type of novel is from a list of three options:

  • Mystery (+30 relationship)
  • Romance (+30 relationship)
  • Sci-Fi (+30 relationship)

Picking any of these options will increase your friendship with Elliott and affect the story later on. After giving Elliott an answer, the event ends.

Four Hearts

Once you have four hearts with Elliott, enter the Stardrop Saloon anytime between 3pm and 11pm. While waiting to get a drink, Elliott will walk in and order you an ale or glass of wine. The player then has four dialogue choices while toasting with Elliott:

  • “To Pelican Town!” (+25 relationship)
  • “To our friendship!” (+50 relationship)
  • “To my good health!” (-10 relationship)
  • “To your doom!” (-50 relationship)

Since we all want to marry Elliott, toasting to your mutual friendship is the best choice out of the four as it gives the most points. Once the toast is over, Elliott will dance and the event ends.

Six Hearts

At six hearts, the next event will start when you enter Elliott’s cabin while he is home. You’ll find Elliott playing the piano, and once he finishes, he’ll talk about how difficult it’s been finishing his novel. Elliott will also express his interest in becoming a farmer.

Although this event offers four different dialogue options, none of them affects your relationship with Elliott.

Eight Hearts

Once you reach eight hearts with Elliott, you’ll receive a letter in the mail from him, asking you to visit the museum between 1pm and 7pm.

When you arrive, you’ll see that Elliott has gathered the town for an exclusive reading of his new novel. The novel Elliott reads changes depending on which option you selected in your first heart event with him. Once the reading is over, Elliott thanks you for coming and says that he dedicated the book to your favorite genre.

10 Hearts

Once you reach 10 hearts with Elliott, you’ll begin to develop a romantic relationship with him. Head to the beach between 7am and 1pm on a day when it’s not raining to activate this event.

Elliott will write you a letter asking you to come to the beach to take a ride with him on a row boat. If you accept to go on the ride, Elliott will talk about his novel, and how you inspired him. Suddenly, Elliott will reach over and give you a surprise kiss.

After the kiss, the player can react in two different ways:

  • “I’m happy” (+50 relationship)
  • “You’re making me very uncomfortable. Stop.” (-50 relationship)

By accepting Elliott’s kiss, you’ll be able to marry him. If you decide to reject Elliott’s kiss, you won’t develop a romantic relationship with him and can’t get married.

14 Hearts

You can only access Elliott’s 14 heart event after marrying him. This occurs when you exit the farmhouse on a day when there isn’t a festival.

During this event, Elliott will tell you he is leaving for a week to go on a book tour. In response, you’ll have three options:

  • “Yes, I’ll be fine.”
  • “I’ll be happy as a clam.”
  • Don’t go!”

The first two options are the correct choices, but Elliott will still embark on his tour regardless of the choice. When he returns, you will have a romantic conversation about your marriage.


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Author
Image of John Wildermuth
John Wildermuth
John is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles and wields a degree in English. He is constantly staying up to date on the latest and greatest games, and has been writing about gaming for over a year now. When he is not playing games, he can be found reading sci-fi and fantasy books or working on ceramics.