Puranic tradition narrates that following the death of Sati, Shiva's first wife, who had immolated herself after her father Daksha insulted Shiva, the grieving god withdrew into prolonged, isolated ascetic meditation, uninterested in remarriage or worldly engagement of any kind. Sati was subsequently reborn as Parvati, daughter of the mountain god Himavan, and, aware of her past connection to Shiva, undertook an extended and increasingly severe course of her own ascetic practice specifically to win his attention and eventual acceptance as his wife.
The gods, meanwhile, faced a separate and urgent problem: a powerful demon, Tarakasura, had obtained a boon that only a son born of Shiva could defeat him, but Shiva's continued withdrawal from worldly engagement made such a son seem impossible. The gods enlisted Kama, the god of desire, to interrupt Shiva's meditation and draw his attention toward Parvati, an intervention Shiva met with fury, incinerating Kama with a glance from his third eye, though Parvati's own sustained penance ultimately succeeded where Kama's more direct intervention had failed.
Shiva, having tested Parvati's devotion at length, including in some tellings approaching her in disguise to discourage her, eventually recognized and accepted her sincerity, and the two were married in a ceremony described at length across various Puranic sources, attended by gods, sages and celestial beings.