Rachel Scott is married to Elliott Smith. The ABC News correspondent announced their engagement on Good Morning America on January 8, 2024, after Smith proposed the previous month at the Waldorf Astoria in Dana Point, California. The couple married on September 6, 2025, at Bella Vista Estate near Santa Barbara.
That update matters because the original announcement described Scott as engaged, but the couple’s story has since moved forward. Here is what is publicly known about Smith, the surprise proposal and their wedding.
Latest status: Rachel Scott and Elliott Smith married on September 6, 2025, according to Vogue’s wedding feature and subsequent ABC News coverage.
Who is Rachel Scott?
Rachel Scott is an ABC News senior political correspondent who reports across Good Morning America, World News Tonight, Nightline, This Week, ABC News Live, digital platforms and audio. She joined ABC News in 2016 after previously working as a producer for GMA Digital, according to her ABC News biography.
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When her engagement was announced in January 2024, coverage described Scott as ABC News’ senior congressional correspondent. ABC’s later biography uses the title senior political correspondent. Scott is a correspondent who appears on Good Morning America, not one of the program’s regular co-anchors.
How the engagement was announced on Good Morning America
Robin Roberts shared the news during the Monday, January 8, 2024, broadcast, calling it big news for the Good Morning America family. Scott joined the segment to talk about Smith’s proposal and said the moment had been a total surprise. The program also showed footage connected with the proposal.
Scott later celebrated the news on social media with proposal photos and a short caption: “YES!” The images included her engagement ring and photographs of the couple. The announcement prompted congratulations from her ABC News colleagues and viewers.
At the time, the key detail was that Scott had said yes to marriage. The later wedding reporting provides the rest of the timeline.
Who is Elliott Smith?
Elliott Smith is a Yale University administrator, according to Vogue’s account of the couple’s relationship and wedding. He is a private person, and reliable public coverage does not establish details such as his age, salary, net worth, family background beyond the information he and Scott shared, or private social-media activity.
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His name can also create search-result confusion: this Elliott Smith is not the late singer-songwriter of the same name. The strongest contemporary wedding coverage spells the fiancé’s name Elliott, with two “t”s.
The surprise proposal in Dana Point
Smith proposed in December 2023, several weeks before the couple announced their engagement publicly. The proposal took place at the Waldorf Astoria in Dana Point, California, near a gazebo overlooking the water as the sun was setting.
According to Scott’s account in Vogue, Smith arranged rose petals and flowers and enlisted family members and friends to help create the surprise. Scott initially thought the decorated setup belonged to another couple. She even worried that she might accidentally appear in their proposal photographs.
Once she realized the scene had been arranged for her, Smith proposed. He then hosted an engagement party later that night with family and friends. Vogue also reported that Smith had asked Scott’s father for his blessing during a family trip to Italy in 2023.
Early broadcast descriptions emphasized the gazebo, flowers and garden-like setting. The later wedding feature supplies the more precise location: the Waldorf Astoria in Dana Point, near the water. Those descriptions refer to the same proposal rather than separate events.
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How Rachel Scott and Elliott Smith met
The couple met at a brewery in May 2019. Scott was attending a friend’s going-away party and had planned to leave early because of work. Smith was there with his friend Jose and had set a timer for 30 minutes because he also intended to leave.
After meeting Scott, Smith ignored the timer and stayed to talk. Scott later told friends that she had met an amazing man. The brewery became part of the couple’s shared story: even after marrying, they continued visiting the place where they first met.
Rachel Scott and Elliott Smith relationship timeline
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| May 2019 | Scott and Smith met at a brewery. |
| 2023 | Smith asked Scott’s father for his blessing during a family trip to Italy. |
| December 2023 | Smith proposed near a gazebo at the Waldorf Astoria in Dana Point, California. |
| January 8, 2024 | Robin Roberts announced Scott’s engagement on Good Morning America. |
| September 6, 2025 | Scott and Smith married at Bella Vista Estate near Santa Barbara, California. |
| September 22, 2025 | Vogue published its feature on the couple’s wedding. |
| September 24, 2025 | ABC News published a video segment about Scott’s wedding. |
When and where did Rachel Scott and Elliott Smith get married?
Scott and Smith married on September 6, 2025, at Bella Vista Estate near Santa Barbara, California. The outdoor wedding featured views of the Pacific and incorporated details from their relationship, including a brewery-themed welcome party inspired by the place where they met.
The couple also held a private traditional Native American blanket-wrapping ceremony honoring Smith’s Ramapough Lenape heritage. Scott’s best friend and Smith’s cousin officiated together, and the ceremony took place on a pickleball court that had been transformed for the occasion.
Scott wore several looks during the celebration, including her wedding gown, a lace halter dress and a dark dress for the after-party. The couple also prepared handwritten postcards for their guests. Vogue reported that they made one for each of 182 guests; another wedding report gave a slightly different guest count, so the exact number is best treated as a reporting variation rather than a central detail.
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The celebration also honored Scott’s grandfather, singer Gene Chandler. Songs including “Duke of Earl” were performed as part of the wedding festivities.
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The couple’s engagement lasted roughly 20 months from the January 2024 public announcement to their September 2025 wedding. Scott said the longer engagement was helpful because much of 2024 was taken up by her work covering the presidential campaign and traveling for assignments.
That period also explains why the original Good Morning America story remained focused on the engagement: the wedding had not yet happened. The later ABC News video segment and Vogue’s September 2025 feature confirmed the next major milestone.
What to know about the original headline
If you are looking for the news behind “Good Morning America’s Rachel Scott Is Engaged,” the announcement was real and took place on January 8, 2024. But it is no longer the couple’s current status. The proposal happened in December 2023, and Scott and Smith subsequently married on September 6, 2025.
Public reporting supports the engagement, proposal and wedding details above, but does not support speculation about the ring’s value or designer, Smith’s finances, the couple’s home life, children or future family plans.
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The Bottom Line
Bottom line: Rachel Scott became engaged to Yale administrator Elliott Smith after his December 2023 surprise proposal at the Waldorf Astoria in Dana Point. Robin Roberts announced the engagement on Good Morning America on January 8, 2024, and the couple married at Bella Vista Estate near Santa Barbara on September 6, 2025.
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