The Animal Crossing franchise does a great job of giving its adorable characters individual personalities and stories that players get invested in. Animal Crossing: New Horizons continues this with unique events, like Reese and Cyrus' wedding event.

In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Reese and Cyrus are married alpacas working at Re-Tail. Reese buys items off players and buys turnips according to the stalk market prices, while Cyrus alters furniture and creates unique items. The couple appear again in Animal Crossing: New Horizons during wedding season in June, where players are tasked to take photos of them in Harv's Island for their anniversary. The romantic task is only limited to snapping Reese and Cyrus in their wedding attire, but this could open the doors to one activity that needs to be added in future Animal Crossing games.

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It's Time For Weddings to Happen in Animal Crossing

animal crossing new horizons reese cyrus june wedding event

Animal Crossing is well-known as a life and farming simulation game, but it does not include romance options. Apart from Reese and Cyrus, New Horizons' wedding season doesn't let players hold actual ceremonies, but they are able to dress up and stage wedding shoots with their significant others on Harv's Island. The only relationship-building mechanic that Animal Crossing has is gathering Friendship Points and maxing out Favor Levels through various activities, from greeting villagers to giving them gifts, until they become Best Friends.

Reese and Cyrus are the only canon couple in Animal Crossing , while other pairings are fanmade ships. Many players also speculate that CJ and Flick could be a gay couple, but Animal Crossing has never confirmed it.

Reese and Cyrus' wedding, albeit staged for their anniversary photo shoot, inspired many Animal Crossing: New Horizons fans to recreate their special day with their virtual avatars. Likewise, the popularity of the wedding season event could signal an opportunity for Animal Crossing to finally include a romance and marriage mechanic.

Future Animal Crossing games could do this by either letting players marry NPC villagers or other players. The former could be achieved by pinpointing romanceable NPCs and adding another relationship level above Best Friend. As for the ceremony, Animal Crossing should make wedding ceremonies and wedding-themed items available all year round. There's also an opportunity to customize these items and the cake to match players' preferred motif. It could make it more fun by letting Reese and Cyrus come back to attend or even officiate the wedding, and, of course, invite their friends to celebrate with them. It would also be interesting if players could pair up two NPCs and help them organize their wedding as well.

How Animal Crossing's Romance Can Stand Out From Others

Just like other popular farming and life sims like Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon, the Animal Crossing franchise gives players the power to personalize their virtual worlds and interact with interesting characters along the way. While it's true that players can enjoy Animal Crossing alone or with a friend without the need for romance options, it's about time it introduces this new mechanic in the next game to further emphasize the life sim aspect.

Animal Crossing players could be paired up with villagers, which, in itself, is already groundbreaking considering that the NPCs are humanoid animals. Marrying them could give players special perks, like discounts at stores or special items, if they choose to marry any of the villagers. Animal Crossing definitely has the freedom to lean into its whimsicality if it decides to add romance options and a marriage mechanic. This could add more depth to the next game, especially the characters' stories, and potentially give players more reasons to invest more time and effort on their islands.