It’s the “worst kept secret in show business”, jokes the celebrity press as they reveal the details: the XXL wedding of popstar Taylor Swift is due to begin on Thursday in New York.
The rumor of a union between the singer and American footballer Travis Kelce on July 3 at Madison Square Garden, where she has sung several times, has been circulating for several weeks.
It has not been officially confirmed and the spokesperson for the person concerned did not respond to AFP’s request. But the hypothesis is more and more probable.
The celebrity media Page Six and the American channel ABC state that the festivities will open at 6 p.m. with a dinner to which around a hundred people are invited.
The wedding is to take place on Friday in front of more than a thousand guests, including many celebrities (singer Selena Gomez, models Gigi Hadid and Cara Delevingne, actress Zoë Kravitz, the groom’s teammates, etc.).
The guests, who the press says have signed a confidentiality agreement and will be deprived of cell phones, are expected from 3:30 p.m. for a cocktail. The ceremony is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., followed by a reception late into the night.
According to Page Six, singer Stevie Nicks and country musician Tim McGraw will perform. Performances by Ed Sheeran and Paul McCartney are also mentioned.
Castle under construction
Since the beginning of the week, Madison Square Garden, the famous performance hall and sports arena, has been receiving delivery after delivery, in preparation for a secret private event.
In front of the enclosure on Wednesday afternoon, several dozen journalists and photographers, as well as a few curious people, observed the ballet of forklifts loaded with boxes and carefully packaged decorations.
The celebrity site TMZ claims that a castle is being built inside.
“It’s fascinating,” commented Alicia Griffith, 51, visiting New York from South Carolina with her daughters Althea and Cora, aged 10 and 12 and fans of the artist.
And to continue, pointing to one of them: “I told him to take photos. She told me that maybe it wasn’t her marriage. I say: +but maybe yes, I think that’s the case.”
Ultra-mobilized for the occasion, the New York Times reports a reinforced police presence from Thursday and the closure of certain neighboring streets.
Questioned by AFP, the police did not confirm but the manager of a pizzeria located very close to the room said she had been informed.
Public transport
The couple seems to be on site: the singer’s private plane landed in the region on Tuesday, then her car was seen in town. Travis Kelce was photographed jogging in Manhattan.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani had fun keeping the suspense alive on Wednesday in a video calling on New Yorkers to protect themselves from the heatwave hitting the eastern United States.
“That you celebrate the Football World Cup on July 4 (American National Day, Editor’s note) or you have, hypothetically, booked Madison Square Garden to get married, the most important thing to do is stay inside with the air conditioning,” he quips.
During a press conference, the boss of the New York transportation authority (MTA), Janno Lieber, told him that he had “no inside information”, before inviting “celebrities” to take public transport to get to the wedding if it takes place.
It would not be the first time that a musician chose Madison Square Garden for his wedding: Sly Stone was married there in June 1974 to actress Kathy Silva during a concert of his group, Sly and the Family Stone.
At 36, Taylor Swift topped global music sales in 2025 for the fourth year in a row and the sixth time in her career, according to figures from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).
Her fiancé Travis Kelce, also 36, won three Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs, in 2019, 2022 and 2023.
