Stars arrive for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s lavish New York wedding
Taylor Swift, the biggest pop star on the planet, is thought to be tying the knot with all-American footballer Travis Kelce at a venue fitting for music and sporting royalty: Madison Square Garden.
The multi-day event, set to conclude early on Saturday, July 4 (local time), is taking place at the 20,000-capacity venue in Midtown Manhattan – and A-list guests are out in their droves.
Model Gigi Hadid was seen wearing a sequinned pink dress.
Swift reportedly travelled to Hadid’s Manhattan apartment on Friday morning to get ready. The model is rumoured to be a bridesmaid.
Bradley Cooper, Hadid’s boyfriend, was spotted walking through the West Village in New York City wearing black tie before getting into the back of a black car with the model.
Abigail Anderson, Swift’s best friend from high school who is also expected to be a bridesmaid after Swift was one for her in 2017, arrived wearing a silver corseted gown.
American singer-songwriter Benson Boone, known for his song Beautiful Things, was seen walking into the venue wearing black tie and a pair of sunglasses.
Fox Sports host Charissa Thompson, sports commentator Erin Andrews, and football player Richard Sherman, were all seen leaving their hotel and apparently heading to the event.
Some guests wearing gowns and tuxedos have been seen walking into the venue. Elsewhere, blacked-out cars, presumably carrying A-list stars, were seen driving into a tent at the stadium surrounded by curtains.
The likes of Selena Gomez, Jay Z and Graham Norton descended on New York City before the July 4 weekend.
After a rehearsal dinner on Thursday night, which was attended by 100 of Swift and Kelce’s closest friends and family, the main event will take place on Friday with around 1000 guests.
Doors for the main ceremony are now open, with cocktails served at 4pm and the wedding itself beginning at 5.30pm. The reception will start an hour later and last until 2am.
There will be superstar performers (Swift’s close friend, Stevie Nicks, and her early country mentor, Tim McGraw, look nailed on) and enough famous faces to rival Oscars night.
A question mark remains over whether Blake Lively, formerly one of Swift’s closest friends who has drifted from the star since her legal battle with Justin Baldoni (which mentioned Swift in the court documents), will bury the hatchet and attend the ceremony. It’s not looking likely: Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, were seen in Lake Placid in upstate New York on Thursday at a horse show with their daughter, almost 500km from MSG.
Pounds of lobster were seen being wheeled into the stadium in large black boxes in the days leading up to the ceremony, along with an assortment of chicken, French fries, thick-cut onion rings and peppers.
Romaine lettuce, eggs and whipping cream were also seen being delivered to the stadium, along with a Krispy Kreme truck.
A truck believed to contain an ice sculpture was seen driving into the venue on Friday, and guests leaving on Thursday night were pictured with diamante-studded black boxes bearing the couple’s initials, apparently containing champagne flutes encrusted with real diamonds.
However, the couple themselves have asked their guests to bring them “absolutely no gifts”, according to San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle.
The event is believed to have been planned by Mark Seed, a mysterious wedding planner for high-profile clients, with little online presence.
Seed reportedly planned weddings for Jennifer Lawrence, Jack Antonoff, who is a friend of Swift’s, and Billie Lourd.
A castle is said to have been built inside the stadium, with fabric covering the floors and ceiling, according to Page Six. On Tuesday, two white bannisters fell out of black bin bags outside the stadium, fuelling speculation about the structure.
Artificial trees were also seen, along with a bag marked “golf”, prompting rumours that the couple had erected a mini-golf course inside the stadium.
Crews were seen unloading one large black box labelled “40-inch mirror ball” and a large white staircase railing.
On Thursday, a food truck for the Italian restaurant Sartiano’s, rumoured to be one of Swift’s favourite restaurants in SoHo, New York, was also seen entering the venue.
Spare a thought for the NYC locals, though, who are already miffed at having to contend with seemingly every road in Midtown Manhattan being blocked off – and the fact that the city is footing the bill for the wedding’s intense security, which is estimated to be costing the New York Police Department (NYPD) around US$160,000 ($280,000).
Perhaps anticipating the negative press around throwing such a lavish party, the couple have donated $26m to 20 charities, including food banks, cancer research and animal welfare.
A $2m donation to Dolly Parton’s reading initiative, the Imagination Library, was praised by the country singer, who said in a video on Instagram: “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’m blown away and overjoyed with gratitude.” Parton, who was one of Swift’s earliest champions in Nashville, also joked that the couple’s firstborn child would be “one special baby!”
The couple, who announced their engagement on Instagram in August 2025 after two years of dating, met Kelce in 2023.
The pair met after the Kansas City Chiefs tight end announced on his podcast that he had tried to give her his number at one of her concerts, but was rejected by her team.
Sources close to the couple say that Swift plans to take Kelce’s surname, but keep her original name as her stage name.
“In her personal life, the idea of being Taylor Kelce is something she genuinely looks forward to,” a source told the Daily Mail.
Who’s on the guestlist?
Swift is notoriously private, picky about friendships and paranoid about people using her for her fame. But those traits don’t seem to have translated to her wedding plans: every man, woman and dog in Hollywood, the Upper East Side and Nashville seems to be on the guest list.
Here’s a list of everyone spotted en route to Madison Square Garden for the wedding of the century (or simply celebrities who have been suspiciously milling about in NYC).
- Broadcaster Graham Norton
- Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge
- Kelce’s mother, Donna
- Music producer Jack Antonoff
- Author Lena Dunham
- Swift’s publicist, Tree Paine
- Supermodel Gigi Hadid and actor Bradley Cooper
- Singer Selena Gomez
- Abigail Anderson Berard, Swift’s best friend from school
- Comedian Adam Sandler
- Film director Steven Spielberg
- Music mogul Jay Z and his daughter, Blue Ivy
Who are the bridesmaids?
Swift’s inner circle has included the same faces for more than a decade. Former Disney star Selena Gomez, supermodel Gigi Hadid, author Lena Dunham, the Haim sisters, Este, Danielle and Alana, stylist Ashley Avignone (introduced to Swift by Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone, another dead-cert for the guest list) and her childhood best friend Berard are expected to form her bridal party. Kelce has four young nieces – Wyatt, Elliotte, Bennett, and Finnley, daughters of his brother Jason and his wife Kylie – who will also probably feature in the ceremony.
That gives us two potential maids of honour in Gomez and Berard; six regular bridesmaids; and four adorable flower girls.
How much is it all costing?
Well, it ain’t cheap. Madison Square Garden reportedly costs $1m a night to hire, so that’s $3m before the food, drinks, decorations, dresses and security are factored in. The New York Times estimates that Swift and Kelce have coughed up $15m-$20m for the three-day shindig.
Who will design the dress?
One thing we can expect is that Swift’s bridal look will be classic and vintage-inspired, in keeping with her personal style. A source of inspiration could be Elizabeth Taylor’s first wedding gown in 1950. It was by costume designer Helen Rose, who also made Grace Kelly’s wedding dress. Swift has paid homage to Taylor in song, and was seen wearing a Darlene De Sedle 22K gold and opal diamond suite that once belonged to Taylor at a wedding this year.
In terms of designers, Ralph Lauren would be a natural choice: American, synonymous with elegance, timelessness and an “old money” kind of wealth. There is no formal bridal offering from the brand, but the house has worked with a handful of A-listers on couture creations, including Swift’s close friend Selena Gomez, Jennifer Lopez, Lily Collins and Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
There are also rumours that Swift has held meetings with Sarah Burton of Givenchy. She certainly has form, having designed the most famous wedding gown in the world, for the Princess of Wales, during her tenure at Alexander McQueen.
Vivienne Westwood, the choice of Charli XCX and one Carrie Bradshaw, may be another option; Elie Saab and Stella McCartney’s names have been mooted too. A stronger contender, though, could be Nicole+Felicia, the couture duo behind three of Swift’s on-stage looks. Their bread and butter? Bridal.
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