Nick Joseph Viall is used to his dating life being in the public eye. 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.”
It’s all this experience that helped inform his relationship podcast,”The Viall Files,” and his 2022 book, “Don’t Text Your Ex Happy Birthday: And Other Tips for Love, Sex, and Dating.”
But his relationship with Natalie Joy, whom he started dating in 2019, stayed out of the public eye for several years. On April 27, the couple exchanged vows at an animal farm in Savannah, Ga.
They met in September 2019 when one of Mr Viall’s Instagram photos appeared on Ms Joy’s Explore page. She thought he was attractive, so she decided to send him a cheeky message: “You’re unreal.”
Although she 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 “interested”. They started talking on the phone and texting, but weren’t sure if they would ever 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 job. (She was an account executive at Salesforce before first appearing on “The Bachelorette” in 2014 and eventually transitioning to author, podcast host and media personality.)
Ms Joy, who had lived in New York for two years after dropping out of high school at 15 to pursue a modeling career, also flew to New York. The plan was to meet him in person, while meeting old friends as well.
They met at what was then called the Williamsburg Hotel, had dinner and drinks, and strolled through Brooklyn. She had such a great time that she spent the entire weekend with him and ended up “imagining” her friends, she said.
No one expected much from their weekend together. “Here I was meeting a girl who lives in Savannah,” Mr. Viall said. “She knows a guy who lives in Los Angeles. That’s not necessarily a recipe for starting a relationship in and of itself.”
But he was surprised by how much they connected and wanted to meet two of his closest friends: Sharleen Joynt, a contestant on “The Bachelor” season 18, and her husband, Andy Levine. Mr Viall has known the couple since 2015 and they ended up officiating the wedding ceremony on Saturday.
“I really value their opinion and they’re pretty honest friends, so I was curious about what they thought of Natalie,” Mr Viall said. “And they loved her right away.”
Ms. Joynt and Mr. Levine remember meeting Ms. Joy for dinner at Ferns, a restaurant in the East Village. Mr. Viall was their “third wheel,” Ms. Joynt said. It was an established team of three. But Ms. Joy “was such an effortless addition to our team,” Ms. Joyd said.
About a week later, Ms. Joy accepted an invitation to visit him in Los Angeles. They got lost in Venice Beach, walked along the boardwalk and enjoyed each other’s company. They indulged in daily activities. “It didn’t matter what we did,” Ms. Joy said.
For the next 10 months, Mr. Viall and Ms. Joy met in Los Angeles, New York or Savannah about once a month.
At first, Ms. Joy leaned into the casual nature of their relationship and decided to just have fun with him. She was realistic, she said, knowing they lived far apart. But as time went on, he wanted something more serious.
About four months after they started seeing each other, she told him this. “Nick politely declined,” Ms. Joy said. He was single for a while and hesitant to get into a relationship. (As for their age difference, Mr. Viall he has said that initially “it was something I was self-conscious about”.)
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Nevertheless, Mr. Viall still wanted to spend time with her. “Every time he left, I always missed him,” she said.
When the pandemic broke out in March 2020, Ms. Joy flew to Los Angeles and stayed with Mr. Viall for a week. It was the most time they had spent together — that week they really got to know each other. “Up until that point, it was always like a weekend here and a weekend there,” Mr. Viall said.
After a week, she decided to return to Savannah, where her family was and where she was working as a surgical technologist for a reconstructive surgeon at the Georgia Institute of Plastic Surgery. “I remember being surprised,” Mr. Viall said.
Mrs. Joy stood her ground. She set boundaries and made sure she didn’t invest too much time and energy into Mr. Viall because she knew she wanted a relationship and he wasn’t offering her that. But he had a feeling it would come eventually.
“I feel like the reason I stayed so long is because I honestly always knew it was him and I just knew it was going to come at some point,” Ms Joy said. “Every time I was with him, I felt at home. I felt extremely safe and protected.”
She didn’t wait for him, though, and continued to date other people.
One day that summer, he FaceTimed her as she was getting ready for a date and asked what she was getting ready for. She told him the truth. “I had no right to be angry,” Mr Viall said. “I was more disappointed in myself. And I respected her for sticking to her guns.”
Ms. Joy became less and less available — answering his calls less often and responding to his texts more slowly.
“I wasn’t fully giving her everything she deserved at the time,” Mr. Viall said. “He wasn’t going to settle for anything less conventional. Which I obviously always respected about her and, you know, it made me think long and hard about what was important to me.”
“I finally realized that even though I had my fears – you can always think of reasons not to do something you’re worried about – it wasn’t worth losing her,” Mr Viall added. “And so I kind of got over my insecurities or my fears.”
While on a trip to Puerto Rico in July 2020 with her sister, he texted her and asked if they could talk. He wanted to solve it. And he told her he loved her.
After her trip, Ms. Joy visited him in Los Angeles and the two became exclusive. Around the same time, Mr. Viall was house-hunting in Los Angeles
“I remember him saying, ‘I look at these houses and I picture you with me in them,'” Ms. Joy said. He moved into his new home in Valley Village in November 2020.
“In Natalie’s presence, Nick is more relaxed,” Ms Joyd said. The couple gave their first joint interview in July 2021 on Ms Joynt and Mr Levine’s podcast ‘Dear Shandy’.
“It was really sacred to him,” Ms Joynt said of their relationship. “Once you go public, there’s a lot out of your control. And I think it speaks to how precious he saw that relationship, that he wanted to keep it as private as he did.”
Ms. Joynt added that she and Mr. Levine had met other women that Mr. Viall had dated. And they had heard of many others. But, “most of them never got past the starting point.” (Mr. Viall was engaged on his season of “The Bachelor,” but the engagement it ended later that year.)
In January 2023, Mr. Viall proposed by holding a fake screening of the Tom Hanks film A Man Called Otto. He convinced her to take part by making a fake flyer with details such as the address and dress code and booked a venue in Venice, Create Studios. Mr. Viall even hired extras who stood in line with her to get into the venue. When he entered, however, the floor was decorated with 200 candles and a large screen at the back of the room began playing a pre-recorded video of Mr Viall speaking to the camera.
“Thank you for falling in love with me and making me feel safe enough to fall in love with you,” Mr Viall said. the video, while crying. “I know when we first met, I was tough. I probably felt it was hard to get me to open up. So thank you very much for being patient with me.”
“Look up from the stairs,” Mr Viall said in the video. There he was in the flesh, coming down the stairs to propose.
In February, the couple welcomed their daughter, River Rose Viall. Mr. Viall, who grew up in Milwaukee, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a degree in accounting and supply chain management. In addition to his podcast, which is under his media company, Envy Media, Mr. Viall is a host and relationship expert on the unscripted show, “Patti Stanger: The Matchmaker.”
Ms. Joy, who returned to high school and graduated, received a degree in surgical technology from Savannah Technical College. He currently works as a surgical technologist for Dr. Mehryar Ray Taban, an ophthalmic facial surgeon based in Beverly Hills. She is also a regular on “The Viall Files.”
On April 27, the couple married in front of 164 guests at Magnolia Farm and Stables, a livestock farm in Savannah owned by Ms. Joy’s sister. Mr. Levine, who was ordained through American Marriage Ministries for the occasion, led the ceremony, with Ms. Joynt participating.
The theme of the wedding was ‘Vogue on the farm,’ Mr Viall said. “Very posh, very posh, but it’s on an animal farm,” Ms Joy added.
JoJo Siwa, Josh Peck, the former “Drake & Josh” actor and Katie Maloney from “Vanderpump Rules” were among the guests. Ms Joy wore a dress by Cinq’s Macye Wysner, while Mr Viall was given a tuxedo by Hugo Boss for the ceremony.
The couple threw a ‘country chic’ housewarming party on the Friday before the wedding, tapping into Ms Joy’s southern roots with a mechanical bull, a vat of boiled peanuts and plenty of cowboy hats, suede, fringe and jeans.
The subject was unrelated to the current cowboy hype: “I’ve been riding horses for a while. This farm has been in my family for a while,” Ms Joy said. “Natalie has always been a bit of a country girl,” Mr Viall added.
On this day
when April 27, 2024
Where Magnolia Farm and Stables, Savannah, Ga.
“Farm Fashion” Guests took local trolleys to the farm for a sunset ceremony with handwritten vows. Rescue animals roamed the 280-acre farm: miniature cows, goats, horses and peacocks. A lake, willow trees and glowing lanterns served as the backdrop.
A Do Over Ms Joy walked down the aisle with their daughter in her arms before handing the baby to her mother. At the altar, after Mr. Levine began his speech, Ms. Joy realized that her train and veil were bunched up. She stopped the ceremony, readjusted her accessories and started over.
Late-night Waffle House Guests dined on traditional Southern fare and late into the evening, indulged in Waffle House, which was donated and served by a food truck.