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Grounded in the liberal arts and sciences, Elmira College provides a collaborative and supportive environment that enables students to become active learners, effective leaders, responsible community members, and globally engaged citizens.
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Elmira College alumnus Dan Smith ’21 was proud that he coordinated a nearly perfect way to ask Olivia Kelly ’19, whom he met at EC, to marry him. He coordinated with both their families, chose a location on the scenic Marginal Way Walkway in Maine, and had family members and champagne waiting to celebrate the occasion. While he had thought of nearly everything, thanks in part to “the mothers,” he hadn’t thought about hiring a professional photographer, but as fate would have it, one just happened to walk by, and the rest is…..viral.
Jayla Rediger, owner of Jayla Jo’s Photos, was walking along the cliffside Marginal Way when she spotted the couple mid-proposal.
“She normally parks in a different area,” explained Kelly. “But she had to park further away. Because of that, she was walking by us just at the right moment.”
At first, Rediger was more discreet, but she quickly jumped in and started posing the couple.
While Kelly and the other family members present assumed she was part of Smith’s plan, he was caught off guard and a bit confused.
What no one realized at the time was that Rediger wasn’t just taking photos. She recorded the experience and later posted the video to her social media accounts. It quickly went viral and has been shared and reposted. According to Rediger, the video has been viewed at least 4 million times.
“I was probably responsible for a million of the views,” joked Kelly. “It was nice to go back and see things happening from her perspective.”
“Within two days, everyone had seen the video and was giving me a hard time,” said Smith. “But it worked out well for me. It made the proposal feel like a big event, and it’s nice that everyone is saying such nice things.”
He added, “And Olivia is happy,” making it clear that her feelings were the most important.
While Kelly and Smith enjoyed their moment of fame, they reflected on where their relationship began: Elmira College.
Kelly was a Nursing student, and Smith studied Business Administration. During her junior year, Kelly noticed Smith. She knew he played ice hockey and decided to make the first move.
“There was a table on the lawn where the hockey players would always sit,” she explained. “I went over to Dan and asked if he was going to sit at the table even though the table was completely empty.”
“That was me trying to hit on him,” she said, acknowledging that it was an indirect way to introduce herself.
Yet, her tactic worked. He noticed her and asked his friends about her. Eventually, they started talking, and Smith asked Kelly for her phone number. That’s when the two began dating.
After Kelly graduated, she lived in Rochester and came back to visit Smith on campus.
“We had a lot of mutual friends, which was nice for when Olivia came to visit me. Being a smaller campus, we got to know a lot of people,” shared Smith.
After Smith’s graduation, the couple moved together to Boston. Smith began a project management role for Lee Kenedy and, because it was at the end of the COVID pandemic, Kelly easily found a travel nursing role. She also attended graduate school and became a nurse practitioner.
The couple decided to settle in the Boston area, and they are now looking ahead to their wedding day on New Year's Eve 2026.
Of course, there will be plenty of EC alumni at the event. They’ve already secured an EC flag and are planning to take a group photo to share when the time comes.
Smith and Kelly’s story is a fitting reminder that the connections formed at Elmira College extend far beyond graduation. Their initial conversation developed into a lifelong partnership, rooted in the close-knit community they found on campus.
