This weekend, according to TMZ, People, and a feverish five-byline piece in The New York Times, Taylor Swift will marry Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden in front of about 1,000 guests.
Rumors that the couple had chosen the World’s Most Famous Arena as their venue have been making the rounds for months. I first heard about the possibility back in April, when my Every Single Album cohost, Nathan Hubbard, shared that there was major buzz in L.A. showbiz circles that the wedding was happening at the home of the Knicks, Billy Joel, and that crazy Monster Energy bull-riding contest that happens there sometimes.
At the time, I thought it sounded unbelievable. “I want her to have natural light!” I said. There was no way a romantic with an unlimited budget would choose to get married in a windowless tin can near the Macy’s. It would require her planners to liaise with James Dolan. It would require her to opt in to getting married under a jumbotron.
But chosen she has. Over the past few days, permits have been filed with city government agencies to close off streets around the Garden. Equipment in boxes marked with Swiftian code words—“Garden Party,” “Mirror Ball”—has been trucked in to loading docks. Chairs, food, a red carpet, and pieces of a giant castle have been delivered to the arena.
I love the Garden. I’ve never attended an event there that I didn’t think felt more special just by virtue of it taking place inside those walls. Still, I think most of us can agree that getting married near a locker room in a venue that serves Pepsi products is not the stuff of epic romance. It’s probably for that reason that a Wednesday exclusive in People, considered a favored publication of Team Swift, stressed how unlike itself the Garden will apparently become. “I’ve never seen it look so different,” a source told the magazine.
I’ve been asked many times what I think about this wedding plan. For the record, the part that I find a bit goofy is not so much the location but the size. The absolute maximum size for a good wedding, in my opinion, is 300 people. But once you’ve decided that it’s essential that you invite, like, Bob Iger with a plus-one and the Knicks’ starting five, then sure! Have cocktails on the sixth-floor concourse, by all means.
Because this is Taylor Swift we’re talking about, though, controversy has inevitably followed. Online, strong opinions abound. Some have taken offense to the perceived indulgence and imposition on the public of closing off some of the streets surrounding the venue. The Hollywood Reporter ran an editorial highlighting the inherent contradiction of hosting a “top-secret” wedding with 1,000 guests in one of the busiest neighborhoods in America. Of course, there are plenty of Swifties making the case that this is a great plan, that what’s really tacky is criticizing another person’s big day, and that everyone should generally Leave Taylor Alone.
Personally, I don’t find it offensive that the surrounding streets will be shut down while this is happening. As a Manhattanite, I think living here involves an understanding that you will sometimes be inconvenienced, and that’s just part of the deal. Swift has a long history of paying the people who help her put on a show and keep everyone safe while they do so quite well; I think the city and citizens of New York will make out just fine from these events. I’m also a little confused by the apparent droves of people desperate to navigate midtown on a summer Friday, and I have a sneaking suspicion that if Swift and Kelce were flying 1,000 people to a private island somewhere, these same folks wouldn’t like that either.
As someone who has put in some hours defending Swift against the charge that she’s stuck in high school and lacking in sophistication, I’ll say I didn’t love the castle detail, which I’m happy to note People is now strongly refuting. Still, part of Swift’s enduring power is that she’s reached imperial pop stardom without aligning herself with prevailing elite taste. Dua Lipa got married in the first couture Chanel wedding dress by designer of the moment Matthieu Blazy; Charli xcx’s wedding last year telegraphed a mix of urban cool and Italian chic. Those just aren’t Taylor’s reference points. Aesthetically, she has always been more American, even suburban, in her iconography. I dislike the word “relatable” in the context of celebrity for its parasociality and subjectivity, but I do think those style markers make her legible to a broader audience. It’s part of why her relationship with an NFL star makes so much sense. From that angle, a fairytale wedding at the World’s Most Famous Arena does too.
My guess for how this will ultimately go down is that they’ll basically throw a big, glitzy private concert, with performances from Swift allies. Stevie Nicks and Tim McGraw are reportedly set to perform. I could easily see Ed Sheeran and Paul McCartney jumping onstage, too. A Haim set in their bridesmaid (I’m guessing) dresses is a distinct possibility. Watching a show together is a way to create a communal experience for more people than can actually be together—no one knows this better than the woman who put on the Eras Tour—so if you are having a 1,000-person wedding, that seems like a good way to do it. People will have fun and get to say they were invited. You can’t have a bad party with a Stevie Nicks performance. Also, it’ll be a bajillion degrees on Friday, and the Garden has strong air conditioning. It’s not what I would choose, but fine!
Aesthetically, with their budget, I’m sure they can indeed transform the space. It sounds as though there will be a lot of draping going on. I will say I hope that, at least a little, Taylor and Travis let the Garden be the Garden. I like a wedding that celebrates a reality rather than creating a fantasy, and, as a sports and music arena, it is oddly appropriate for them. I hope they leave the jumbotron up, and I hope they use it. I hope they broadcast where famous guests are sitting like they do with courtside seats at Knicks games. I hope Mariska Hargitay waves to everyone when she realizes she’s on-screen after an awkward two seconds. I hope they get a T-shirt cannon, and I hope Travis is obsessed with it. I hope they have a kiss cam for the couple, and I hope they use it to start drama by making random pairs of celebrities kiss, too. I’d like to see a redux of the Coldplay kiss cam incident between Andy Reid and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Get smooching, you two!
At the end of the day, weddings are a lot like Taylor Swift: They’re a beautiful source of unbridled joy and community, the politics of the whole enterprise get a little twisty if you think too hard about it, and—love them or hate them—they present a fabulous opportunity to judge other people’s choices. On that count, you’ve got to hand it to Taylor and her jumbotron sports arena wedding. Congratulations to the happy couple, and to whoever gets on the kiss cam with Robert Pattinson! I hope it’s Taylor Lautner; that would have meant a lot to me in 2009.
