Bring on the final rose!
Ex Bachelor Nick Viall has found lasting love with longtime girlfriend Natalie Joy. The couple announced they were engaged in a joint Instagram post shared on Thursday.
“For the rest of my life it’s you,” Viall, 42, captioned the post, which includes a handful of photos from the couple’s engagement. Viall is seen kissing his fiancée’s hand in one photo, while Joy poses for the camera and shows off her engagement ring in another.
The couple received well wishes in the comments section of the post. “Well! Congratulations,” Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Alum Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave wrote, meanwhile Vanderpump Rules Actor Ariana Madix said: “Congratulations!! Cheers to you both.”
Viall and Joy were first linked in 2020, but they didn’t start sharing their relationship publicly until 2021. At the time, a source told PEOPLE that “she was great for him.”
Addresses union news for the first time on his Vial files Podcast, Viall said in February 2021: “It’s fun. That is great. I am very happy.”
Without sharing too many details about Joy, Viall also revealed that the couple met online. “She slid into my DMs. It was very romantic,” he recalled.
The couple finally decided to make things public after spending time together in person for a while.
“We kept hanging out and eventually she got to a point where she was like, ‘I want to date,’ and I was like, ‘I don’t know,'” he said. “She was just like, ‘OK, this is what I want.’ It’s fine, no problem, but I’m going to go do my thing,’ and she did, and I was like, ‘What?!’ … She went and showed me exactly what I would miss.”
The couple continued to share more insights into their relationship after going public.
Joy posted a series of couple photos ahead of Valentine’s Day 2022, writing: “I’m so lucky to feel incredibly loved every day that Valentine’s Day is just another Monday, with extra flowers and chocolate covered strawberries of course.”
That same week, the surgeon called Viall his “dream man” on Instagram.
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As their relationship continued to take a more serious turn, Viall said he “wouldn’t be in a relationship” with Joy if he “didn’t think it was possible” to marry her one day. He then revealed on PEOPLE every day podcast last year about how “everyone’s situation is different” when it comes to marriage.
“I think sometimes timelines can be a little dangerous in terms of, you know, setting false expectations and getting to a certain timeline and all of a sudden… [you] have other priorities,” he previously explained. “I just tell people to be careful about setting timelines. If they want to set up an appointment, that’s great, just make sure it’s mutual.”
