Not every newlywed couple spends the first weeks of their marriage making an appearance on Bonnie Hunt’s TV talk show and giving interviews to the New York Post and National Enquirer, but Rodney and Diane Day aren’t your average bride and groom.

Day and his new wife, formerly Diane Harris, of Calistoga, first met 50 years ago in Napa. High school sweethearts, the two were separated after an auto accident in June 1958 and circumstances kept them apart for 50 years, until Day located Harris and they reunited.

The couple were married in Napa on Oct. 17.

The story of their reunion, published in the Napa Valley Register on Oct. 18, soon made national headlines.

“It’s been very exciting,” Diane Day said from her home in Calistoga. The Days have been caught up in a whirlwind of phone calls, e-mails and interviews about their rekindled romance.

The media attention has surprised the two, Rodney Day said. “You’d never think in your lifetime that any of that would happen,” he said.

But telling their story “sends an inspirational message,” Diane Day said. True love can conquer all.

A phone call from The Bonnie Hunt Show in Los Angeles led to a quick trip to Southern California to tape the show, which aired Monday. “It was really exciting to be there,” Diane Day said.

The biggest surprise was yet to come. During the taping, Hunt surprised the newlyweds with an all-expenses paid, seven-day honeymoon trip to Fiji.

“I was ready to fly out of my seat,” Diane Day said. “We couldn’t believe it.”

Neither of the two have been to the South Pacific, Day said. “It’s kind of a dream come true,” she said.

Friends have called and strangers have recognized them. Returning to Napa from their Hollywood trip, “We had people in the airport waving at us and saying they saw us on Bonnie Hunt,” Rodney Day said. “Diane went to San Francisco yesterday and someone on the ferry recognized her.”

The couple have also given interviews to the New York Post and the National Enquirer. Fox News called, and AOL and other Web sites published stories.

It was enough of a miracle to be married 50 years after a car crash effectively ended their romance. But then the crush of attention followed.

“We never thought in a million years anything like this would happen,” Diane Day said. “It’s been wonderful, though.”

As far as being newlyweds, “I love it,” she said. “There’s nothing better.”