Nick Viall And Natalie Joy’s Relationship Timeline Started With A DM

As a former Bachelor lead, Nick Viall is not one for conventional meet-cutes, so it’s fitting that his and Joy’s relationship started with an Instagram DM. And according to Viall, it was Joy who sent that first message. Speaking to Insider in April 2021, he explained, “[The DM] was playful enough, and I guess it didn't come across as weird?”

And although he was hesitant to respond, he eventually decided to give it a chance. “But thankfully I did. And it seems to have worked out so far,” he added.

Viall and Joy haven’t clarified when exactly they started talking, but they celebrated their first anniversary in July 2021.

According to Viall, their relationship started out as very casual — and he was happy to keep it that way. But Joy wanted something more serious. Viall explained on a Feb. 8 episode of his podcast, “We hung out for a while, and we weren’t boyfriend or girlfriend... We kind of kept hanging out, and then, uh, she finally got to a point where she was like, ‘I want to date,’ and I was kind of like, ‘I don’t know.’”

But he quickly changed his mind when Joy decided to move on. “She was like, ‘OK, no problem,’ and then she went and showed me exactly what I’d be missing... And then, you know, there you go.”

The defining moment of every relationship: Viall and Joy went Instagram official on Jan. 27 with a cute IG Story. In it, Viall is playing a virtual reality game while Joy tries to give him a kiss. “You're freaking me out,” Viall tells her, still in the thick of his game. OK, so not exactly the most poetic words, but a sweet, flirty moment nonetheless.

And Viall made up for it on Valentine’s Day. Sharing a photo of him and Joy wearing similar shades of plaid, he wrote, “If you’re not willing to wear matching outfits you’re not really in love.”

On June 10, Viall announced that they were getting a puppy, an Australian Cobberdog named Jeff. He shared a selfie of the three of them together with a fitting caption, “Family Man.” That same day, Joy also shared some photos with Jeff, captioning them, “officially outnumbered.”

IMO, this puppy might be the only thing cuter than their relationship.

Considering how they started out, Viall and Joy’s relationship doesn’t really have a clear start date — something they poked fun at when celebrating their anniversary. On July 9, Viall posted a couple of selfies of the two of them. In both, he’s kissing her cheek. He captioned the post, “Celebrating 1 year ish... Thankful for every moment I have with you @nnataliejoy.”

Joy shared the love on her feed as well, writing, “this has been the best year of my life, and it’s because of you.” So cute!

Joy and Viall found themselves at the center of an awkward controversy when celebrating his birthday in Sept. Taking to IG to show some love to her beau, Joy wrote a sweet caption dedicated to him. Unfortunately, the words were not her own.

Instead, Joy plagiarized two other birthday posts, both from vlogger Claudia Sulewski for her boyfriend Finneas, aka Billie Eilish’s brother.

Although plagiarism might be a dealbreaker for some people, Viall didn’t seem to mind too much. In the time since, he’s continued to post lovey-dovey photos with Joy.