By Maria Tsvetkova and Nathan Layne
NEW YORK, July 3 (Reuters) – Celebrity guests in tuxedos and gowns began arriving at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Friday 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.
Retired soccer star Abby Wambach and her wife, author Glennon Doyle, were among the first guests seen entering the sports arena on foot under extreme temperatures that hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). Kelce’s teammate, Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones, and Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Cooper Kupp, were also spotted walking in, as was “Ted Lasso” star Jason Sudeikis. Others who arrived included actors Hugh Grant and Ethan Hawke.
Black sport utility vehicles snarled traffic as they drove into the facility, stopping when workers asked occupants to show electronic tickets for verification.
“Watch your toes!” yelled a person at the checkpoint to the crowd while guests’ cars passed a few feet away.
While neither Swift nor Kelce has confirmed plans publicly, the New York Post’s Page Six reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources, that the two had already wed. Reuters was unable to confirm that report.
DAYS OF SETUP
Workers spent days this week unloading food and scenery for a major event into the iconic Manhattan arena. People were spotted rolling a white gown in a large garment bag into the venue on Friday.
Officials including New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani have dropped hints that something is coming, and U.S. 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. The couple through a publicist on Thursday said they had donated $26 million to several charities in the city and elsewhere this week.
Country music star Dolly Parton thanked Swift and Kelce on social media on Friday for a $2 million donation to her charity, which sends free books to children. 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.
‘ROYAL WEDDING’
Alison Walsh stopped with her 11-year-old daughter — one of the singer’s fans known as “Swifties” — on the West 31st Street side of the arena to peer through police-lined barricades at a large white tent.
“When we heard this was going down, we wanted to be here. It is the closest thing to a royal wedding in the U.S.,” said the 46-year-old Walsh, who was visiting from Connecticut and is also a Swift fan.
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 Friday’s 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 Travis’ 2015 touchdown at the same venue.
“Definitely a very proud moment of my life,” responded Travis.
(Reporting by Kurt Hall and Nathan Layne in New York and Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Scott Malone, Deepa Babington and Matthew Lewis)
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