What we're watching
• All eyes are on New York City’s Madison Square Garden, where pop star Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce will hold a wedding celebration this week, two sources told CNN.
• This evening, the power couple is expected to have what the sources described as a rehearsal event. There will be a larger celebration tomorrow, with some 1,000 people expected to attend, according to sources familiar with the planning.
• Extra New York Police Department officers will be deployed to the area around Madison Square Garden for the celebration, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the plans.
NYPD sets up barricades outside of MSG
It’s another day of preparations outside Madison Square Garden ahead of the expected wedding bash for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
The NYPD was just seen putting up barricades as part of security measures that are being put in place.
Extra police officers will be deployed around MSG, source says
Extra New York Police Department officers will be deployed to the area around Madison Square Garden for Taylor Swift’s wedding celebration, which is expected to take place this week, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the plans.
Organizers are planning to build a tent to obstruct the view of a portion of West 31st Street near Seventh Avenue, the official said, so guests can exit their vehicles without being seen.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch addressed security questions Wednesday regarding the highly-anticipated wedding celebration of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce that is expected to take place at Madison Square Garden this week, two sources told CNN.
Swift, one of the most famous women in the world, has faced security incidents in the past, including numerous stalking incidents and an alleged terror plot to attack her concerts in Vienna in 2024.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch mentioned “an event that we are tracking at Madison Square Garden on Friday night” at a news conference Wednesday. She said the NYPD will have “a detail in place” but declined to provide details.
Swift friend Suki Waterhouse spotted all over Manhattan ahead of expected wedding bash
The celebrity sightings have begun.
Do we know the Swift-Kelce wedding guest list? No. Can we make an educated guess of which of her longtime celebrity friends might be there? Probably. And at least one of her close friends, Suki Waterhouse, is definitely in town.
Waterhouse has been buzzing all over Lower Manhattan, being photographed in the Financial District, Battery Park City and Tribeca.
The British singer performed a sold-out “Loveland Live” show at Mercury Lounge on Monday ahead of the kickoff of her tour on July 22, but she has previously confirmed she will be in attendance at Swift’s wedding. Speaking to Variety in May, Waterhouse hinted she might even get some tips for her own anticipated wedding to actor Robert Pattinson.
Of course, rumors and reported citings of several other members of Swift’s inner circle are flying, but guests are so far remaining tight lipped.
However, Swift herself has teased a possible performance by singer and longtime collaborator Ed Sheeran.
“It would be hard to keep him from it, I think,” she said on the “Hits Radio Breakfast Show” last year. “That’s the thing, he’s like, ‘I’m always being asked to sing at weddings.’ It’s like, ‘Ed, if there is a stage, you know you’ll be on it.’
Why Madison Square Garden is the perfect spot for Swift and Kelce to celebrate their union
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce could have easily purchased — or at least rented — their own island to get married on. So, why Madison Square Garden?
MSG works perfectly for so many reasons, from privacy to bragging rights, but at the end of the day, it’s also the place that encompasses both of their worlds.
Music and sports are the two worlds synonymous with the Garden, so it makes sense that it would become part of the lore of the pop culture’s most eagerly anticipated wedding.
Swift playfully made note of how similar her music career is Kelce’s job playing with the Kansas City Chiefs in her Disney+ docuseries “Taylor Swift: The End of an Era.”
“We basically have the same job,” she told Kelce over the phone.
“You’ve got teammates,” Kelce agreed. “I’ve got teammates.”
“You’ve got Coach Reid,” Swift joked, referencing the Chief head coach Andy Reid. “I’ve got my mom.”
They just get each other, and if things go as reportedly planned, MSG has got both of them.
NYC Mayor Mamdani is having fun teasing Taylor Swift’s expected MSG wedding
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani needs to work on his poker face.
The Millennial mayor is leaning hard into the fervor surrounding Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s suspected wedding celebration events that sources tell CNN are expected to take place at Madison Square Garden starting tonight.
In June, Mamdani seemingly confirmed that the couple would hold some kind of wedding event in the city while discussing security measures around the World Cup during a news conference.
“We are the biggest city in the country. We are used to big events, and we are incredibly excited for this one,” he said at the time. “We know it coincides with the Knicks’ Finals run. We know it coincides with July 4, America 250, Taylor Swift’s wedding — all happening at the same time — and we are so excited to welcome the world here.”
When asked if he’d be expected to attend the nuptials, he said he’d be staying home and playing Swift’s politically charged song “Only the Young.”
He continued to fuel speculation this week when he played coy during a briefing addressing the heat wave searing the East Coast.
While responding to a CNN question about whether he could confirm a wedding was taking place at MSG this week, Mamdani said that hypothetically, anyone “getting married” at the Midtown Manhattan venue during the heat wave would be “staying inside” and “staying cool.”
He doubled down in a follow up video posted to his X page sharing safety tips of how to stay cool in the heat, including those who may be “renting out MSG to get married.”
CNN’s Katherine Koretski contributed to this report.
See crews prep for the expected wedding celebration
Large crates and workers were spotted outside Madison Square Garden, days before expected wedding celebration of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
The wedding is expected to take place this week at MSG, two sources familiar with the situation tell CNN.
CNN does not know if the man is connected to the expected wedding crew.
