How to Get Married in Skyrim: Marriage and Children Explained

Looking to get married in Skyrim? While the world of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is mainly designed for questing, adventuring, and monster slaying, that doesn’t mean there’s not any time for the Dragonborn to find a husband/wife and settle down with a home of their own. Marriage is an exciting aspect of Skyrim that actually provides quite a few benefits. If you want to learn how to get married in Skyrim, then this guide will teach you everything you need to know.

How to Get Married in Skyrim

In order to get married in Skyrim, you need to visit the Temple of Mara in Riften. Inside, speak to the priest and ask about weddings. They’ll explain how the marriage process works and then prompt you to buy an Amulet of Mara, a mandatory item for a wedding.

To propose to that special someone, wear the Amulet of Mara and speak to the person you’d like to marry. If they are a possible marriage partner, then you will see a dialogue option asking them to marry you. Once they agree, return to the Temple of Mara to request a wedding. Then, wait 24 hours and leave the Temple of Mara and you will receive an objective telling you to “attend your wedding ceremony.”

After the marriage ceremony is complete, you can talk to your new spouse and decide where you would like them to go. This can be a purchased house in a city like Whiterun, or it can be a custom-built home from the Hearthfire DLC. Any place of residence will do. They’ll remain in the chosen location forever, waiting for you to come and visit. You can always ask them to move later, so don’t fret if you haven’t built your dream home just yet.

Skyrim Marriage Benefits

Why should you get married in Skyrim? With all the adventures to be had, what’s the point of tying the knot? Well, if you have your partner move into a custom home from the Hearthfire DLC, then you can ask them to prepare a Homecooked Meal once per day. This meal will boost your Health, Magic, and Stamina by 25% for 10 minutes, making it one of the most effective healing items in the game.

Then there’s the Lover’s Comfort buff, which boosts skill learning speed by 15% for 8 hours after you sleep in the same home as your spouse. This is the same buff as the one granted by the Lover Stone, so if you have that buff currently active, you cannot receive the Lover’s Comfort buff.  It does stack with the buffs from the Mage, Warrior, and Thief Stones, however. Feel free to go and find another Standing Stone buff now that you’re happily married.

There are also other minor benefits to having a spouse in Skyrim. For example, your partner may occasionally surprise you with a small gift. Your spouse can also set up a store somewhere and bring you 100 Gold per day, earning you some passive income.

Who Can You Marry in Skyrim?

There are over 60 eligible bachelors and bachelorettes that you can marry in Skyrim. Here is a list of all the marriage partners and their locations:

Female Marriage NPCs

Male Marriage NPCs

Some of these characters have prerequisites that must be met before they become eligible for marriage. Most of the involve completing related questlines or favors for them, so just make sure to finish any missions involving a potential partner if the option for marriage isn’t showing up.

How to Adopt a Child in Skyrim

While you can’t have a child of your own in Skyrim (although there are some risque mods for such activities), you can adopt a child for you and your spouse. In order to adopt a child, you must have either a house with a children’s bedroom or a homestead furnished with a bed and chest.

You can adopt most children that you find roaming the streets in major cities as long as they don’t already have a family. If you want to find an adoptable child guaranteed, then you can head to the Honorhall Orphanage in Riften and choose from the children there.

You can’t do this until you complete the quest Innocence Lost and kill the headmistress, Grelod the Kind, however. This is the beginning of the Dark Brotherhood questline in Skyrim, and once Grelod is out of the picture, the children of the orphanage will be in need of new homes. To adopt an eligible child, just select the dialogue option and they will automatically agree and go to your place of residence.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is available now on PC, PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.