After Looking for Love on TV, a ‘Bachelor’ Finds His Wife on Instagram
The New York Times
When Natalie Joy sent Nick Viall a direct message in 2019, she said she had no idea about his run on reality TV. About a year after meeting in person, their casual arrangement got serious.
Nick Joseph Viall is used to his dating life being on public display. From 2014 to 2017, he appeared in four seasons of the “Bachelor” franchise: two seasons of “The Bachelorette,” one season of “Bachelor in Paradise” and, finally, “The Bachelor.”
That’s all experience that has helped inform his relationship podcast, “The Viall Files,” and his 2022 book, “Don’t Text Your Ex Happy Birthday: And Other Advice on Love, Sex and Dating.”
But his relationship with Natalie Joy, whom he began dating in 2019, remained out of the public eye for several years. On April 27, the couple exchanged vows on an animal farm in Savannah, Ga.
They met in September 2019, when one of Mr. Viall’s Instagram photos popped up on Ms. Joy’s Explore page. She thought he was attractive, so she decided to send him a cheeky message: “You’re unreal.”
Though he doesn’t usually respond to DMs, Ms. Joy, 25, stood out, he said, adding that he thought she was “a very beautiful woman” and was “intrigued.” They started talking on the phone and texting, but they weren’t sure if they would ever actually cross paths in person. At the time, Mr. Viall, 43, was living in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles, and Ms. Joy was living in Savannah, where she grew up.
In October 2019, Mr. Viall traveled to New York for a work engagement. (He had been an account executive at Salesforce before first appearing on “The Bachelorette” in 2014 and eventually transitioning to author, podcast host and media personality.)
