Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s ‘American royal wedding’ officiated by Adam Sandler
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have officially married in the celebrity wedding of the century, officiated by Adam Sandler.
The world’s most famous pop star tied the knot with her all-American football beau at a venue befitting sport and music: Madison Square Garden.
On Friday night (US time), screens around the New York City venue illuminated with a pink background and the text: “JusT&T married”. A representative for Swift confirmed to the BBC the pair were married and both wore Dior during the ceremony.
Swift’s longtime publicist Tree Paine confirmed in a statement that the pair were married and revealed the ceremony had been officiated by Sandler, the romcom king best known for his slapstick, 90s-era style.
Kelce and Swift wore custom Dior, Christian Louboutin shoes and Cartier jewellery.
“Taylor & Travis did not have bridesmaids or groomsmen. Instead, her brother Austin Swift served as Taylor’s man of honour and Jason Kelce was Travis’ best man. The ceremony joined both families together and was officiated by friend Adam Sandler,” Paine said in a statement.
Sandler, 59, met Swift at the world premiere of her film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour in October 2023. At the event, Swift went directly over to Sandler and his daughters to talk to them about their own film release.
Speaking on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show in 2024, he said: “My kids know every Taylor Swift song, they love it. I’ve heard it since they were little... they grew up with every song of hers.”
Celebrity guests from Hugh Grant to Ed Sheeran descended upon New York City for the event, described as “America’s royal wedding”.
Grant arrived at the venue on foot with his wife Anna Elisabet Eberstein. The pair met Swift after the Notting Hill star took his daughter to one of the Eras Tour concerts in London.
The model Gigi Hadid was seen travelling to the stadium wearing a sequinned pink dress.
Swift reportedly travelled to Hadid’s Manhattan apartment on Friday morning (US time) to get ready. Bradley Cooper, Hadid’s boyfriend, was spotted wearing black tie getting into the back of a black car with the model.
Abigail Anderson, Swift’s best friend from high school, arrived wearing a silver corseted gown.
Ed Sheeran, who has previously written songs with the star, wore a blue suit and trainers, walking to the venue alongside his wife Cherry Seaborn.
The guests ticked off all of Swift’s famous style signatures – sparkles, metallics and bright, rainbow colours.
Some of the most stylish sightings included Karlie Kloss’ fluid gold silk gown and singer Camila Cabello’s emoji-esque red ruffled dress.
Kloss’ appearance suggests the pair have repaired a friendship that was once rumoured to be on the rocks. The two were famously close, appearing on the cover of Vogue together in 2015, but later drifted apart.
It is believed their relationship became strained over Kloss’ ties to Scooter Braun, Swift’s former manager, with whom the singer had a highly publicised falling-out.
Other guests included Paine, the celebrity publicist who has managed Swift’s PR since 2014, Graham Norton, who was invited to the wedding by Swift live on air, actor Dakota Johnson and singer Ellie Goulding.
Fox Sports host Charissa Thompson, sports commentator Erin Andrews and former NFL star Richard Sherman were all seen leaving their hotel and apparently heading to the event.
Former US football player Abby Wambach arrived hand in hand with her wife, Glennon Doyle, the New York Times bestselling author.
Some guests walked straight into the venue while others arrived in blacked-out cars, driving into a tent at the stadium surrounded by curtains to enter the venue unseen.
The likes of Selena Gomez, Jay-Z and Norton arrived in New York City earlier in the week before the weekend celebrations.
A rehearsal dinner on Thursday night was attended by 100 of Swift and Kelce’s closest friends and family. The main event was apparently attended by about 1000 guests.
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), attended the ceremony.
It didn’t appear 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, nearly 500km from Madison Square Garden.
Cocktails to mark the beginning of the event were reportedly served at 4pm local time, with the wedding itself slated to begin 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.
Authorities closed down several blocks in the heart of Manhattan for the event, with fans gathering at the barricades hoping for a glimpse of the guests.
New York is in the middle of a heatwave, with temperatures hovering about 38C. Police officers were seen handing out bottles of water to those standing in the crowd.
Megan Rasmussen, who travelled from Florida, told The Telegraph: “My husband was going to be here for work anyway, and I was like, ‘I’m coming’.
“I expected something. Maybe not a full red carpet, but not the curtain shutting. We’ve all been so into this love story... She’s not Princess Di, but I would love a Princess Di moment where she rolls down the window and waves at us or something. I would love that moment. I don’t know if it’ll happen, but I’m here just in case it does.”
Janelle Sneegas, an ER nurse from Louisville, Kentucky, who has a Swift tattoo on her left arm, said: “I love Taylor and I think this is a monumental time for her... Just to be here and in the area where she’s getting married, I just think is really fun... booked my flight on Wednesday. I’m an ER nurse, and so literally in between patients I was looking at flights, and I booked it.”
The Empire State Building will be lit up in blue tonight in honour of the pop star as “her something blue”.
Before the rehearsal dinner on Thursday, substantial amounts of lobster were seen being wheeled into the stadium in large black boxes 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 spotted 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 not to bring them any 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 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 the city is footing the bill for the wedding’s intense security, which is estimated to be costing the New York Police Department (NYPD) about US$160,000 ($280,000).
Perhaps anticipating the negative press around throwing such a lavish party, the couple have donated US$26 million to 20 different charities, including food banks, cancer research and animal welfare.
The couple, who announced their engagement on Instagram in August 2025 after two years of dating, met 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 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 was on the guest list?
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 seemed to be on the guest list – thank heavens for Madison Square Garden’s 20,000 seats, eh? (Just joking. There’s actually only 1000 people expected to attend the main ceremony.)
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) below.
– Supermodel Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper
– Hugh Grant
– Ed Sheeran and his wife Cherry Seaborn
– Ellie Goulding
– Ethan Hawke
– Zoë Kravitz
– Model Karlie Kloss
– Music producer Jack Antonoff
– Author Lena Dunham
– Swift’s publicist, Tree Paine
– Dakota Johnson
– Pop singer Sombr
– Fashion designer Tommy Hillfiger
– Jessica Chastain
– Singer Selena Gomez
– Abigail Anderson Berard, Swift’s best friend from school
– Broadcaster Graham Norton
– Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge
– Kelce’s mother, Donna
– Comedian and actor Adam Sandler
– Film director Steven Spielberg
– Music mogul Jay-Z and his daughter, Blue Ivy
– Fox host Charissa Thompson
– Former American football player Richard Sherman
How much is it all costing?
Well, it ain’t cheap. Madison Square Garden reportedly costs US$1m per night to hire, so that’s US$3m before the food, drinks, decorations, dresses and security are factored in. The New York Times estimates Swift and Kelce have coughed up between US$15m and US$20m for the three-day shindig.
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