After months of speculation and predictions, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were married as they celebrated their wedding with hundreds of guests Friday at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
A representative for Swift confirmed in a statement provided to CBS News that the two were married in a ceremony officiated by comedian Adam Sandler. He was described by the representative as a “friend” of the couple.
The couple had no bridesmaids or groomsmen. Swift’s brother, Austin Swift, served as her “Man of Honor,” the representative said, while Kelce’s brother, retired NFL offensive lineman Jason Kelce, served as Kelce’s best man.
According to Swift’s representative, her wedding dress was created by Christian Dior Haute Couture.
In a now deleted X post, AMC CEO Adam Aron, one of the guests, shared that the couple transformed the venue into a “secret garden,” complete with large photos of Swift and Kelce at every age.
The vows the bride and groom wrote were “emotional” and “charming,” Aron said.
Camera crews caught Robin Gentry, Swift’s aunt leaving the venue.
“They cried, and they laughed and they danced, and they hugged and they kissed,” Gentry said.
Social media posts showed peach-colored carpet and drapes, and a party favor with the lyrics from the Swift song “Blank Space,” “So it’s gonna be forever.”
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU /AFP via Getty Images
A jumbotron outside Madison Square Garden lit up with the words, “JUST&T MARRIED!” following the news. The Empire State Building also announced on social media that it had lit up in “something blue” in celebration of the wedding.
The couple welcomed around 1,000 guests at Madison Square Garden to celebrate their marriage, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the security planning.
ANGELA WEISS /AFP via Getty Images
Large black SUVs were seen starting to arrive at the famous venue shortly after 3 p.m. ET, pulling into white tents set up outside. The plans included a cocktail hour, ceremony and then a reception, with the celebration expected to stretch into the early hours Saturday, the sources told CBS News.
A large crowd of onlookers and fans lined the streets near the arena, holding signs of support and hoping to catch a glimpse of those attending the wedding. Some of the guests spotted arriving included actors Hugh Grant, Jason Sudeikis and Ethan Hawke, soccer star Abby Wambach, sports broadcaster Joe Buck, musician Benson Boone, NFL star Cooper Kupp, and Paulina Gretzky, daughter of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.
Roy Rochlin / Getty Images
Roy Rochlin / Getty Images
A rehearsal dinner was held at MSG Thursday, with about 100 family and friends on the guest list. Some of Swift’s friends, including Lena Dunham and her childhood friend, Abigail Anderson Berard, were spotted arriving for the dinner, USA Today Taylor Swift reporter Bryan West told “CBS Mornings” Friday.
Both private security and the New York City Police Department were in place at Madison Square Garden. There are 135 officers assigned around the venue Friday, law enforcement sources said.
Streets directly around MSG were closed, and there were police barricades blocking pedestrians from camping out on the sidewalks nearby.
Tom Weller/picture alliance via Getty Images
The event featured musical entertainment, and crews built a massive set inside the arena for the occasion.
“This is going to be an absolute, spectacular blowout,” People magazine editor-in-chief Charlotte Triggs told “CBS Mornings” on Thursday. “According to a source, it doesn’t look at all the same inside. They’ve completely transformed it.”
Details from inside the venue were hard to come by. But reporters had been watching for days as a parade of 18-wheelers delivered and unloaded supplies, mostly under wraps.
Christian Monterrosa / REUTERS
It was safe to assume the famed basketball arena and concert venue was decked out for a one-of-a-kind celebration, celebrity event planners told CBS News, with one comparing the process to producing a “blockbuster movie.”
West predicted there would be a bucolic garden theme. Watching as things were unloaded, West said he saw a bar stretcher labeled “trees.”
“So I’m picturing kind of like a forest or a garden,” he said.
Triggs said Swift’s familiarity with Madison Square Garden made it an appealing option for the couple.
“I think for most people, this seems like the weirdest choice in the world, but for her, this is spot-on. It has total security. Also keep in mind, she’s very familiar with it. She performed there multiple times,” Triggs said.
The extravagant affair came three years after Kelce attended one of Swift’s Eras Tour shows in Kansas City — and called her out on his podcast after he didn’t get to meet her.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship history
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end shared his disappointment about not meeting Swift on “New Heights,” the podcast he does with his brother, former Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce.
“I was a little butthurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her,” he said, explaining he had a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it to give her.
That clip made it to Swift’s mom, Andrea, who would encourage her to meet Kelce. Swift was initially hesitant about dating an athlete, she said in the “Taylor Swift: The End of an Era” docuseries, thinking she wouldn’t know what to talk about.
But she soon learned she had plenty in common with Kelce.
“It’s shocking how many similarities we have towards our jobs and how we view them, and how we view each other,” Swift said in episode 4 of the docuseries. “We both have jobs where we go out in NFL stadiums and we entertain people for three and a half hours — his with considerably more violence than mine, but he’s not in heels.”
Swift said that while she had trouble maintaining a relationship in the past during a tour, she didn’t have that problem with Kelce.
Each of their passions “fuel each other,” she said. “Ultimately, we love cheering each other on.”
Fans took notice as Swift showed up to cheer Kelce on at NFL games, including the Super Bowl, and as Kelce attended several Eras Tour concerts, even making a surprise appearance on stage at a June 2024 show in London.
Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images
The duo announced their engagement last August in a joint Instagram post captioned: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”
In another clip from the docuseries, Swift described how she couldn’t have imagined the way her relationship began with Kelce.
“If you ever would have told me that the most meaningful relationship I would ever have would start with a man saying that he was butthurt that I didn’t want to meet him, like, unbelievable,” she said.
What’s next after Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding?
Swift and Kelce haven’t shared a honeymoon destination or other post-wedding plans, but Britney Spanos, a journalist and professor at New York University who teaches a course about the pop star, said she thinks “there’s probably new music on the way.”
“If we know anything about Taylor, especially the last six years of her career, she’s constantly writing,” Spanos told “CBS Saturday Morning.” Spanos speculated that any new music could focus on Swift’s life and relationship, giving fans “glimpses within the private life of her and Travis.”
The couple may also “continue to combine their powers,” Spanos said.
“What they have aimed to do so far is to find ways to meet each other in the middle between football and pop music,” Spanos said. “So, I think we’re going to keep seeing ways they’re going to integrate each other into their lives.”