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Stardew Valley's Alex is an incredibly young romance candidate that seems to not have graduated from high school that long ago. This is reflected in his personality, hobbies, and even in his general demeanor.

Related: Stardew Valley: A Guide to Completing Grandpa’s Evaluation

Like most characters living in Pelican Town, though, Alex has more to him than meets the eye. In fact, you might be surprised by just how deep his story arc goes. To help you get the most out of your relationship, we are going to go over how to form a relationship and marry Alex.

Updated May 31, 2023 by Jacqueline Zalace: Despite his jock-ish exterior, Alex is a sweet and compassionate marriage candidate in Stardew Valley. We've updated this guide with even more information on how to pursue Alex. Additionally, we've removed any content that could spoil his storyline for you.

Alex's Basic Info

Stardew Valley Split Image - Alex (left - closeup of face) (right - textbox of character talking)

Alex is a younger character without a full-time job, although he can be found working at the ice cream stand in the summer. Below, you can check out some of his basic information.

  • Birthday: Summer 13
  • Home Location: 1 River Road (east of Pierre's, north of the Saloon)
  • Clinic Visit: Summer 16
  • Night Market Visit: Winter 17
  • Occupation: Ice Cream Scooper (Summer)

Alex's Schedule

Stardew Valley - alex around town

To say that Alex has a pretty easy schedule is an understatement. He doesn't really have a job three seasons out of the year, and Haley seems to be his only friend. This makes him easy to track down no matter what season it currently is in-game.

Below, you can check out his daily schedule during every season. Be advised that your friendship level with Haley will affect whether he deviates from his schedule on Wednesday.

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

Deviations

The Best Places To Find Alex

stardew valley talking to alex outside of his house

As you can see, Alex has an incredibly basic schedule. To find him, all you need to do is head to his house. He will probably be standing outside here, making it easy to speak with him.

Unlike many characters, Alex does not visit the Saloon. The Saloon can be quite packed at night, allowing you to give gifts to multiple people at the same time. Unfortunately, Alex is not part of this crowd, so you will need to seek him out.

Gifting to Alex

Stardew Valley - alex birthday gift

Not only is Alex's schedule possibly the easiest in the game, but giving him gifts is as well. Alex has very few loves and likes to remember. Sadly, both of his loves (other than the Universal Loves) are recipes that you probably won't be able to make for the first little while.

To date and eventually marry an NPC in Stardew Valley, you need to improve your friendship rating with them, measured in hearts on the Social menu. Be sure to talk to Alex every day and give him gifts twice a week!

Loves (+80 points)

Likes (+45 points)

  • Universal Likes
  • All Eggs
    • Except Void Eggs (He dislikes them)

Neutral (+20 points)

  • All Fruit
    • Except Cherries, Apricots, Oranges, Peaches, Apples, and Pomegranates (They are Universal Likes) and Salmonberries (He dislikes them)
  • Many foraged items (Chanterelle, Common Mushroom, Daffodil, Dandelion, Ginger, Hazelnut, Leek, Magma Cap, Morel, Purple Mushroom, Snow Yam, and Winter Root)
  • All types of Milk
  • Universal Neutrals

Dislikes (-20 points)

  • Salmonberries
  • Wild Horseradish
  • Universal Dislikes

Hates (-40 points)

  • Holly
  • Quartz
  • Universal Hates

The Best Gifts To Give

It's best to rely on Alex's likes for those looking to build up friendship points with him. As a bonus, he also has a small number of hated items, which helps to make the gifting process relatively risk-free.

Alex will like any food dish that you give him. If you have access to a kitchen (or money to buy food from the Saloon), then this is a great way to ensure that Alex gets his two weekly gifts.

Dating Alex

Stardew Valley - alex romance dialogue

Triggering Alex's cutscenes have low requirements that won't interfere with your schedule. His most difficult events are the two and eight heart events, because they can only happen in the summer season.

Since most players won't be ready to get married until around the summer of year two, though, this isn't really a problem. Alex does have dialogue choices, but only one of them will actually have any effect on your friendship points.

Event

How To Trigger

Choices

Two Hearts

Go to the beach on a sunny day.

There are no choices you will need to make.

Four Hearts

Enter town between 9 am and 4 pm.

There are no choices you will need to make.

Five Hearts

Enter Alex's house while he is there.

  • "That's crazy. You're a genius!" (No effect)
  • "We all have our strengths and weaknesses." (+50 friendship points)
  • "Worthless? Yeah, that about sums it up." (-50 friendship points)

Six Hearts

Enter Alex's house while he is there.

There are no choices you will need to make.

Eight Hearts

Go to the beach on a sunny day during the Summer.

There are no choices you will need to make.

Ten Hearts

Enter the Saloon between 7pm and 10pm.

There are no choices you will need to make.

Upon hitting eight hearts of friendship with Alex, you'll get a surprise letter from Pierre. It informs you that you can now purchase a Bouquet from him for 200g in the general store. Bouquets can be presented to the NPCs to ask them to go out with you.

Give a fresh Bouquet to Alex to get him to date you! He'll happily accept as long as you still have eight hearts of friendship with him. After, you'll get a few new voice lines from him and his relationship status in the Social menu will change from "Single" to "Boyfriend."

Marrying Alex

stardew valley - old mariner selling you a mermaid's pendant

Mayor Lewis will clue you in about how to propose once you reach ten hearts with Alex (or any romanceable NPC). He sends you a letter telling you that it's a tradition in Pelican Town to propose to your partner with a special necklace: a Mermaid's Pendant. In his usual unhelpful way, though, Lewis doesn't tell you how to get one. We will, though!

To get a Mermaid's Pendant, you need to find the Old Mariner. This is a unique NPC that appears on the beach on rainy days. The Old Mariner is standing near the pools, though, so you need to repair that wooden bridge on the beach in order to get to him.

If you're at ten hearts with Alex when you speak with him, and you've upgraded the farmhouse at least once, he'll offer to sell you the Mermaid's Pendant for 5,000g.

The only way to trigger the Old Mariner's appearance during the Winter is to use a rain totem.

Stardew Valley - alex wedding (left), unique spouse room (right)

Your next step is to propose to Alex by giving him the Mermaid's Pendant. As long as his heart level hasn't dropped for some reason, he'll accept your proposal. The wedding is set for three days after the day you proposed. On the off chance that your wedding falls on a day that there's an event happening in Pelican Town, it will just be pushed to the following day.

There's a beautiful ceremony with Mayor Lewis officiating and all the other NPCs in attendance. Afterward, you and Alex are both transported home. A unique spousal room for Alex will have been added on the right-hand side of your house and some weights will have been placed outside for him to work out with.

Marriage Schedule

Stardew Valley - alex on your farm

After your joyous ceremony, Alex moves into the farmhouse with you and spends most of his time there. Throughout your marriage, Alex can be found doing the following activities.

  • Watering crops
  • Feeding animals
  • Watering the animal bowl
  • Repairing broken fences
  • Giving you gifts
  • Decorating the house
  • In his unique outside area
  • In his unique indoor room

However, he does have a unique schedule for Mondays. He'll also get a unique schedule on Sundays once you see his 14-heart cutscene.

Alex's Fourteen Heart Cutscene

All of the marriage candidates have a special 14-heart event after you marry them. Alex's special event has two parts. To trigger the first part of Alex's, increase his friendship level to 14, then leave the farmhouse anytime in your second year or later between 6:00 am and 8:20 am, any day except Sunday.

Between these two parts, you will need to give Alex 5,000g. Once you have done this, the second part will trigger when you enter the Saloon. After witnessing the cutscene, Alex's Sunday schedule will change.

Maintaining Marriage Or Choosing Divorce

player interacting with divorce book in mayor lewis' house

When you marry Alex, you won't have to continue to give him two weekly gifts, but he will still accept them. You will still need to talk to Alex to maintain your marriage though. Each morning, Alex will probably be standing around somewhere. All you need to do is approach him and talk! After interacting with him a few times, the two of you will kiss.

If, on the other hand, Alex doesn't make a good husband, you can divorce him. While this may be a bit sad, the process is surprisingly easy. On the left-hand side of Mayor Lewis' house, you will see two books. The book on the right of the dresser is used to file for divorce, which will cost you 50,000g.

Divorce will take a toll on your relationship. Alex won't be nice to you when you speak to him around town, which can be a bit sad. Fortunately, you can wipe his memory by using a shrine that unlocks after completing a quest for the Wizard. After using the shrine, Alex won't have any recollection of being married to you.

Next: Stardew Valley: Everything You Need To Know About Having Children