There are differing accounts of exactly when and how Kurt Cobain first met Courtney Love. In his 1993 authorized biography of Nirvana Michael Azerrad cites a January 21, 1989, Dharma Bums gig in Portland where Nirvana played as support, while the Charles R. Cross 2001 Cobain biography has Love and Cobain meeting at the same Satyricon nightclub venue in Portland but a different Nirvana show, January 12, 1990,: 201  when both still led ardent underground rock bands. Love made advances soon after they met, but Cobain was evasive. Early in their interactions, Cobain broke off dates and ignored Love's advances because he was unsure if he wanted a relationship. Cobain noted, "I was determined to be a bachelor for a few months [...] But I knew that I liked Courtney so much right away that it was a really hard struggle to stay away from her for so many months.": 172–173  Everett True, who was an associate of both Cobain and Love, disputes those versions of events in his 2006 book, claiming that he himself introduced the couple on May 17, 1991.
Cobain was already aware of Love through her role in the 1987 film Straight to Hell. According to True, the pair were formally introduced at an L7 and Butthole Surfers concert in Los Angeles in May 1991. In the weeks that followed, after learning from Grohl that Cobain shared mutual interests with her, Love began pursuing Cobain. In late 1991, the two were often together and bonded through drug use.: 172 
On February 24, 1992, a few days after the conclusion of Nirvana's "Pacific Rim" tour, Cobain and Love were married on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii. Love wore a satin and lace dress once owned by Frances Farmer, and Cobain donned a Guatemalan purse and wore green pajamas, because he had been "too lazy to put on a tux." Eight people were in attendance at the ceremony, including Grohl. Love said she was warned by the Sonic Youth bassist Kim Gordon that marrying Cobain would "destroy her life"; Love responded: "'Whatever! I love him, and I want to be with him!' ... It wasn't his fault. He wasn't trying to do that."
The couple's daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, was born August 18, 1992. A sonogram was included in the artwork for Nirvana's single, "Lithium". In a 1992 Vanity Fair article, Love admitted to a drug binge with Cobain in the early weeks of her pregnancy. At the time, she claimed that Vanity Fair had misquoted her. Love later admitted to using heroin before knowing she was pregnant. The couple were asked by the press if Frances was addicted to drugs at birth. The Los Angeles County Department of Children's Services visited the Cobains days after Love gave birth and later took them to court, stating that their drug usage made them unfit parents.