Alyson Hannigan and Alexis Denisof: All About the Actors' Decades-Long Relationship

Alyson Hannigan and Alexis Denisof have Buffy Summers to thank for their 20-year marriage.

The couple met on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the late '90s — Hannigan famously starred as the witch Willow and Denisof played the watcher Westley Wyndam-Price. Hannigan once said it was “flirtation at first sight.”

Denisof and Hannigan wed in 2003. However, the actress didn't always think she was the marrying type.

“It wasn’t an important thing for me until I met Alexis,” she told Moviehole while promoting American Wedding just before her own nuptials. “I love just exploring us together and I know he’s the one for me. I was just instantly attracted to him and we were friends for a year and a half before we dated, which I recommend."

The pair went on to welcome two children: daughters Satyana Marie and Keeva Jane.

Here’s everything to know about Alyson Hannigan and Alexis Denisof’s relationship.

Hannigan and Denisof met on set

They may have nearly two decades of marriage under their belts, but it wasn’t smooth sailing initially. Speaking with The Sun in April 2012, Hannigan revealed that she tried to pursue a relationship with Denisof when they first crossed paths on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1997, but "he didn't want to date somebody he was working with."

Still, that wouldn't be the end of them. After they "developed a great friendship," Hannigan dated a different person, and it was then that Denisof brought up his feelings.

"He then said he didn’t like that. But when my new relationship ran its course, the whole thing suddenly changed and Alex and I started to really care about each other," she said.

Hannigan and Denisof began dating in 1999.

They got engaged in 2001

Denisof proposed to Hannigan in December 2001, after about two years of dating.

According to the actress, she had an open mind about when the relationship milestone would happen.

"My mom, Emilie, always taught me to think hard about marriage ... she said: 'Take your time,' " she told The Sun. "I took my mom’s advice and thought really hard about the whole thing — and didn’t marry until I was nearly 30."

When it did happen, though, Denisof’s timing was a little off. Speaking with PEOPLE in August 2012, Hannigan recalled them driving up to her "mom’s house for Christmas." While on the road trip, which led them through Sonoma and Napa in California, they stopped at a lake to eat.

"I’m swallowing the food, and then he just started saying these beautiful, wonderful things,” she said. "The whole time I am getting kind of frustrated, like, ‘Why does he always do this? He says the most romantic things and it would be the perfect way to propose and then he doesn’t propose.’ ”

Despite thinking it was a false alarm, she was wrong. “But I knew he meant it because he had a ring,” the actress concluded.

They got married in 2003

Hannigan and Denisof tied the knot on Oct. 11, 2003, at the Two Bunch Palms resort near Palm Springs, California.

Hannigan wore a slim-fitting Badgley Mischka satin gown made of Chantilly lace with delicate cap sleeves and left her hair long and loose under her veil. The nuptials were said to be a three-day celebration.

Of her American Pie and American Wedding castmates, only January Jones made the cut. Two months later, Hannigan told Entertainment Weekly that the ceremony was "very small" and her on-screen husband Jason Biggs “gave me hell” for not snagging an invite.

In October 2023, the couple celebrated 20 years of marriage.

"It really feels like an accomplishment. I'm so proud of us," Hannigan told PEOPLE. “The fact that we're so happy now and that I love him even more than I did then is so awesome. We're so, so lucky we found each other."

They have two children

The actors welcomed their first child, daughter Satyana Marie Denisof, on March 24, 2009 — Hannigan’s birthday. “They’re very excited, and mom and baby are doing great,” the couple’s rep told PEOPLE.

Satyana also joined her mom on the set of How I Met Your Mother when she was only four months old.

“I’m so fortunate that she’s here. We set up a nursery, and daddy and baby are in the nursery right now,” Hannigan told PEOPLE of life as a working mom. “So I can run off and get to see them when I have scenes off. It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me! I’m so in love.”

Their second daughter, Keeva Jane Denisof, was born on May 23, 2012. Speaking with PEOPLE the following year, Hannigan described herself and her husband as a “really good team” in their busy household.

“Alexis is an amazing father, he really is,” she shared, adding that they split mealtime duties. “I am definitely a better lunch maker. I am a better baker, but he is definitely better at dinners.”

Now that the girls are older, they enjoy spending time as a family, including trips to Disneyland. In 2018, Hannigan and Satyana (who goes by Saty) competed together on MasterChef Junior Celebrity Showdown.

Hannigan and Denisof renewed their vows in 2013

To mark their 10-year anniversary, Denisof re-proposed to his wife with a new diamond ring in July 2013.

“My hubby @AlexisDenisof surprised me with the most romantic day of my life yesterday!” the How I Met Your Mother star wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). “Which included another proposal & ring! I said YES!"

She added: “And now we get to have our kids at this ceremony :) It’ll be shorter. We’ll get to the cake sooner! YAY renewal!!!”

According to E! Online, the gesture prompted the pair to renew their vows in Hawaii at a sunrise ceremony in October 2013. During an appearance on The View beforehand, Hannigan revealed that Satyana and Keeva would be her flower girl and maid-of-honor.

Their Los Angeles home appeared in the final season of This Is Us

The couple's former Los Angeles residence was the setting for the final season of This Is Us.

According to Hannigan, they’d been inundated with requests to use the house, which they originally purchased in 2016, as a set. The actors knew what productions could do to locations, and they initially shut down the idea, saying, "'We will never do that.' "

Eventually, she acquiesced to requests for the popular NBC drama show, in part because the director was a neighbor. The crew also fixed up the house, leaving it in better condition than they found it.

"They fixed damage that I had done," Hannigan recounted on SiriusXM's The Michelle Collins Show in October 2021. "We've got a lot of wood ... [and] you can't tape anything to it or it takes some of the stain off and I didn't know that on my first Halloween and I taped to this beautiful door."

“I forever see like little tape marks. No, they fixed that too! I was like 'You guys!' " she concluded.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the couple have since sold the house.

Denisof is supportive of Hannigan taping Dancing With the Stars

While chatting with PEOPLE in October 2023, Hannigan gushed about her supportive husband and recognized the sacrifices made so that she could appear on Dancing With the Stars.

“He's been so supportive and I'm not surprised, but I'm super appreciative,” she said. "He is that guy. He's always been a hands-on dad and he's made so many sacrifices for us. But just the support and in every single way ... I'm home, but I'm lying on the couch, kind of like, ugh. And he's everything. He cooks, [he] gets me ice. It's amazing.”