Celebrity guests arrive for Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce wedding celebration
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Actor Hugh Grant and his wife Anna Elisabet Eberstein arriving at Madison Square Garden – the venue for the reported wedding celebrations of singer Taylor Swift and NFL player Travis Kelce – in New York on July 3.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Celebrity guests gathered at Madison Square Garden on July 3 for a lavish event believed to celebrate Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's wedding.
- The couple donated US$26 million to various charities, with Dolly Parton thanking them for a US$2 million gift to her children's book charity.
- Swift and Kelce's relationship began in 2023, growing publicly until their August 2025 engagement announcement, captivating fans and media alike.
AI generated
NEW YORK – Celebrity guests in tuxedos and gowns began arriving at New York’s Madison Square Garden on July 3 for what was widely expected to be a glitzy wedding celebration for pop megastar Taylor Swift and football player Travis Kelce, the couple that has enchanted fans with a three-year love story.
Jennifer Lopez, Ed Sheeran, Ethan Hawke, Abby Wambach, Jimmy Fallon and other luminaries were spotted entering the venue on a sweltering day when temperatures topped 100 deg F (38 deg C).
Black sport utility vehicles snarled traffic as they drove into the facility, stopping when workers asked occupants to show electronic tickets for verification.
Seattle Seahawks player Cooper Kupp and wife Anna Marie Kupp arrive at Madison Square Garden.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“Watch your toes!” yelled a person at the checkpoint to the crowd while guests’ cars passed a few metres away.
Dozens of onlookers stood behind barriers outside the event dubbed “America’s royal wedding”.
One showed off a pink-and-white friendship bracelet that read “Team Bride”. Another held a handmade sign that put a spin on a Swift lyric. “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs, coming straight to MSG,” it said.
Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis arriving for the reported wedding celebrations.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Jane Lowry, a 15-year-old high school student from Texas who came to New York on vacation, climbed scaffolding across the street from the Garden to catch a glimpse of arriving celebrities.
“I wanted to see Taylor Swift because I do really like her music,” Jane said, adding that she had spotted only two football players from her vantage point.
Swift has documented her romances and breakups in her music, and Jane said she looked forward to the singer’s album releases during her marriage.
“I think she’ll write some cute songs about it,” she said.
While neither Swift nor Kelce has confirmed plans publicly, the New York Post’s Page Six reported on July 2, citing unnamed sources, that the two had already wed. Reuters was unable to confirm that report.
Days of set-up
Workers spent days this week unloading food and scenery for a major event into the iconic Manhattan arena.
Lights atop the Empire State Building were set to turn light blue on the evening of July 3, a nod to the adage that “something blue” at a wedding brings good luck, according to a social media account for the landmark.
US media have reported the pair plan a cocktail hour for 1,000 people at the start of a long holiday weekend when the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence from British rule.
Workers setting up curtains inside Madison Square Garden, the venue for the reported wedding celebrations of singer Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, in New York, on July 3.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The couple through a publicist on July 2 said they had donated US$26 million (S$33 million) to several charities in the city and elsewhere this week.
Country music star Dolly Parton thanked Swift and Kelce on social media on July 2 for a US$2 million donation to her charity, which sends free books to children.
Workers thought to be part of the reported wedding between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce crossing a road outside Madison Square Garden, in New York City, on July 3.
PHOTO: REUTERS
While she made no mention of a wedding, Parton’s post included a playful nod to any children the couple may have in the future.
“It’s evident that you two have made giving back a key part of your life. So, hey, when you have the firstborn, can I have it? Because that is going to be one special baby,” Parton said.
Public courtship
The couple’s love story began in 2023 when Kelce tried unsuccessfully to meet Swift backstage at one of her concerts, but succeeded in capturing her attention and warming her heart by recounting his disappointment on a podcast. Both are 36 years old.
As the relationship grew, they appeared publicly together at her concerts, his Kansas City Chiefs games and on Saturday Night Live, leading to an August 2025 engagement announcement on Instagram that read “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married”.
One of the most successful musicians of all time, the writer of Love Story and Shake It Off has won 14 Grammy Awards and shattered records with a global concert tour that made her a billionaire.
Kelce, one of the National Football League’s best-known players, helped the Kansas City Chiefs win three Super Bowls alongside star quarterback Patrick Mahomes. He also co-hosts the popular sports and pop culture podcast New Heights.
‘Very proud moment’
Kelce first tried to meet Swift after she performed at Kansas City, Missouri’s Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Chiefs, as part of her Eras Tour, a retrospective of her two-decade career.
He failed to make it through security and said on his podcast that he was “a little butthurt” he did not get the chance to meet Swift and give her a friendship bracelet bearing his phone number.
Swift was charmed, recounting on a later New Heights episode that the gesture reminded her of “an ’80s John Hughes movie, and he was just like, standing outside of my window with a boombox and being like, ‘I want to date you’.”
She said she thought, “If this guy isn’t crazy, which is a big if, this is sort of what I’ve been writing songs about wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager”.
Kelce went on to attend multiple Eras Tour performances and surprised a London audience by taking the stage in a tuxedo and top hat, and carrying Swift to a couch during the song I Can Do It With A Broken Heart.
On a July 3 episode of New Heights, there was no mention of a wedding. But when asked to choose, podcast guest Prince William named that surprise appearance on stage at Wembley Stadium as more iconic than Kelce’s 2015 touchdown at the same venue.
“Definitely a very proud moment of my life,” responded Kelce. REUTERS
Law enforcement personnel are seen in a closed street near Madison Square Garden, the reported venue for the wedding celebrations, in New York City on July 3.
PHOTO: AFP
