by Matt Bird

Created on: July 08, 2009

To fully experience the complete Sims 3 lifespan, you'll have to get one of your sims married eventually. It's nothing new to the series, and the process of getting hooked up with somebody is roughly the same; however the mechanics have changed a bit in getting your sim's relationship levels up to marriage point.

Obviously you're going to need to find somebody for your sim whose interests line up. You CAN get two people together who aren't terribly compatible, but it'll be a difficult prospect. It helps if your sim is a social butterfly, as well, and if you have a high charisma to drive up relationship scores even faster. If your sim has been around for a while the Attractive reward can help quite a bit, as well.

Once you've found a sim that your sim gets along with nicely, get them conversing constantly. They're not likely to come over to your sim's house right away, so make them pick up the phone and start long conversations. Eventually you'll get up to the point where they'll come at the slightest invitation, at which point you should gradually build up their relationship scores. Once they're high enough start to delve into the romantic interactions, though don't try to go too far too fast. Keep in mind, too, that using the same interaction repeatedly will bore the other person and drive your scores down.

Having trouble catching the person? This can happen if they have a job that keeps getting in the way. If so you have two options: either have your sim quit their own job and get another that lines up better with their timetable or get the relationship high enough that you can invite them to move in - or possibly get your sim invited to move into their house. Either way, spending enough time together to achieve a full relationship bar is necessary.

Once there you need to choose the romantic action 'Propose going steady'. If you're successful the sims will become boyfriend and girlfriend. Keep working on their relationship steadily until they're in love and you'll eventually get the option to propose; once that's done successfully, a wedding party may be held whenever you like.

Not happy with the union? There's a way out of that, too. Get the sims mad enough that they fall out of love and eventually an option to get divorced will pop up. Just make sure they don't remain in close proximity thereafter, as divorced sims tend to dislike one another for quite a while.

Learn more about this author, Matt Bird.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.