The latest
• The big day appears to be here: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s multiday wedding celebrations at New York’s Madison Square Garden are expected to culminate today with a cocktail party, a ceremony at 5:30 p.m. and a reception that could go to 4 a.m. — with about 1,000 guests — according to people familiar with the planning.
• Venue under tight wraps: While it’s unclear exactly what the celebrations could look like, a parade of decor and supplies, including knobby tree branches, boxes of alcohol and lobster meat, were spotted getting wheeled into the arena. An event believed to be the rehearsal dinner kicked off the nuptial festivities on Thursday.
• The happy couple: The pop star and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end started dating in 2023 and announced their engagement in August through joint Instagram posts.
What began as a trickle of vendors has become a steady parade
A truck from Jack Monkey Catering was among the latest arrivals at Madison Square Garden ahead of Friday’s expected wedding celebrations for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. The caterer is known for its signature braised beef, along with a menu featuring pasta, fish, rice, pork, chicken, salads and desserts.
CNN tried to contact Jack Monkey Catering to ask about its latest assignment, but did not receive a reply.
Also spotted arriving were a Krispy Kreme truck and a vehicle from Rose Brand, a supplier of theatrical fabrics, custom stage curtains, backdrops and other production equipment.
A stream of SUVs begins to arrive at Madison Square Garden
It’s not yet clear who will be attending Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Madison Square Garden wedding celebration, but one thing has been constant Friday morning: a steady stream of gray and black SUVs, the preferred mode of transportation for many chauffeured A-listers.
CNN has counted at least nine SUVs turning into the cordoned-off area around the arena. It is not clear where passengers are getting out.
Taylor Swift has been writing wedding-coded songs for two decades
From the whimsical musings of a teenager in 2008’s “Love Story” to the complicated ruminations about foreverness in 2024’s “The Tortured Poets Department,” the single thread of gold that has stitched Taylor Swift’s discography together is her musings about marriage.
Those firmly in the Swiftie-sphere are now celebrating the fact that she’s hitting a matrimonial milestone of her own. Taking a look back at Swift’s discography may lend some clues as to how she got here.
Swift’s earliest wedding-related sonic offerings appeared to take inspiration from others, in song’s like “Mary’s Song,” “Fifteen” and “Starlight.”
The title track of 2019’s “Lover,” a folksy love ballad, included lyrics pointing to wedding vows, while “Paper Rings” and “It’s Nice to Have a Friend,” both songs from that same album, have more blatant wedding references.
Swift’s songwriting took a more mature approach to love through the whimsy of 2020’s pandemic-era sister albums “Folklore” and “Evermore,” but themes of marriage appear most in 2022’s “Midnights” and 2024’s “The Tortured Poets Department.” There, Swift paints a more complicated picture of what the promise of forever actually means.
Songs including “Midnight Rain,” “Lavender Haze,” “So Long London,” “But Daddy I Love Him,” and the haunting breakup track “How Did It End?” illustrate these messy matrimonial references.
She even released a single in 2023, between both albums, called “You’re Losing Me,” where she admits: “I wouldn’t marry me either.”
Things take a turn for the better last year with “The Life of a Showgirl,” a bubbly pop collection bursting with optimism.
Apart from the spicy song “Wood” (look it up), in “Wi$h Li$t,” she writes about settling down and having a “couple kids.” That’s another song many believe is about Travis Kelce.
Kelce brothers drop special "New Heights" episode with Prince William
Brothers Travis and Jason Kelce dropped a special episode of their “New Heights” podcast today: one featuring none other than Prince William.
The brothers sat down with the Prince of Wales, who also serves as the president of the English Football Association, to chat about the World Cup and the world of football (or soccer if you’re the Kelces).
It’s unclear when, exactly, the episode was recorded — or why it was dropped mere hours before Travis Kelce is expected to celebrate tying the knot with Taylor Swift. It seems the trio sat down in the days following England’s group match victory over Croatia on June 17.
The prince has met Swift several times, including during a 2013 charity ball during which the pop star and prince joined Bon Jovi onstage to playfully serenade the audience with “Living on a Prayer.” Kelce and Swift also snapped a selfie with William and his children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, backstage during her Eras Tour stop at London’s Wembley Stadium in 2024.
Though today’s podcast episode made no mention of Kelce’s upcoming wedding, the trio did reminisce about the 2024 concert, during which Travis Kelce made a surprise onstage appearance alongside Swift’s backup dancers.
“What is the more iconic moment at Wembley Stadium?” Jason Kelce asked the prince. “Travis scoring a touchdown in 2015 against the Lions? Or Travis as a backup dancer to the one and only Taylor Swift?”
Prince William replied, “Travis as a backup dancer.”
Travis Kelce described the appearance as a “very proud moment of my life” and admitted he was nervous to meet members of the royal family that day.
“That was honestly one of the coolest moments ever, was meeting you and the little ones that day,” Travis Kelce said. He said he and his brother often joke about how Jason Kelce didn’t know what to do with the beer he was holding when meeting royalty.
"This really is her fairytale": Swifties in NYC talk to CNN about wedding celebration
As excitement swirls around New York City in anticipation of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding celebration, some Swifties have spoken to CNN about the rumored events taking place today.
Chris and Andrew, a mother and son from Maryland, said they originally traveled to New York to see some shows in the city.
Given their proximity to Madison Square Garden, however, they said they might swing by the arena where Swift and Kelce are believed to be holding celebrations again later today.
Andrew, who did not give his full name for privacy reasons, said he had been a fan of Swift since 2007 after her single “Teardrops On My Guitar” was released.
“That came out when I was in middle school, and then just, you know, hit after hit, great music, great lyrics, it’s just a really fun time,” he said.
Watch more from Chris and Andrew in the video above.
Taylor Swift was a bridesmaid a couple times before being the bride
It isn’t quite “27 Dresses,” but Taylor Swift has walked down the aisle a few times as a bridesmaid before having her own big day.
She was a bridesmaid at Lena Dunham’s 2021 wedding to Luis Felber and reportedly made a speech at Selena Gomez’s wedding to producer Benny Blanco in September.
Swift also served as the maid of honor for childhood friend Britany Maack in 2016 and sported a merlot-colored gown while serving as a bridesmaid at another long-time friend Abigail Anderson’s 2017 wedding.
With Swift’s own wedding bash upon her, Gomez and Dunham were among those spotted in and around New York City this week ahead of festivities. A glammed up Gomez even posted to social media on Thursday night, with no mention of where she was headed, but one could make an educated guess.
Dozens of officers scale Madison Square Garden's steps
An event this grand certainly isn’t lacking in security.
CNN’s Brynn Gingras spotted dozens of officers filing along barricades and climbing the steps of Madison Square Garden ahead of today’s festivities.
It’s unclear if all the officers are with the New York Police Department, but several have NYPD decals on their shoulders or shirts.
Swifties in Vienna celebrate friendship, community and remember the Eras Tour ahead of wedding
Fans in the Austrian capital of Vienna have a unique relationship with Taylor Swift – having rallied outdoor singalongs in August 2024, after a foiled terror attack cancelled the musician’s show-stopping Eras Tour dates.
At the time, listeners serenaded each other, exchanged friendship bracelets and even established a Friendship Tree on Corneliusgasse – or Cornelia Street, as in the title of a Swift song – that has since garnered Google Maps status, according to Lex Dimitrijevic, a teacher based in Vienna. Those festivities also featured in the artist’s Disney+ documentary “The End of an Era,” which aired last December.
What began as “heartbreaking” disappointment for thousands of fans evolved into a demonstration of “kindness, resilience, and hope,” reflected Dimitrijevic, who founded Swiftie Nights Vienna, Austria’s largest Swift fan community, in 2023.
Now, in the days leading up to Swift and Travis Kelce’s nuptials, fans in the Austrian city are reflecting on the “genuine sense of belonging” they’ve nurtured over the years.
She told CNN that while celebrities should not define relationship expectations, Swift and Kelce “have reminded many people what a supportive partnership can look like.” “Neither person has had to become smaller for the other to succeed,” she said, adding, “Whether you’re a Swiftie or not, I think that idea resonates with a lot of people.”
Here's what Travis Kelce has said about marrying Taylor Swift
Let’s not forget about the groom.
Taylor Swift may be a global superstar, but she’s hardly marrying a civilian in the world of celebrity.
Travis Kelce just might be the most famous tight end ever and the Kansas City Chiefs player has been clear that he’s found his person.
“Whenever I’m with her, it feels like we’re just regular people,” he told GQ in an interview published in August 2025. “When there is not a camera on us, we’re just two people that are in love.”
He also spoke of being “way more strategic in understanding what I am portraying to people” when it comes to their relationship which probably factored into how tight-lipped he’s been about their nuptials.
But don’t for a second think he’s not super excited.
When pro golfer Rory McIlroy appeared in May on “New Heights,” the podcast Kelce hosts with his brother Jason, talk turned to weddings when McIlroy, who won the Masters this year and last, described the joy and excitement he felt being surrounded by loved ones at the annual Masters Champions Dinner.
“Travis, you’ll feel this this year whenever you’re sitting at your wedding, and you have all the people in a room,” McIlroy said. “It’s amazing to have all these people in the same room from your childhood.”
The champion golfer called the experience “surreal,” “wild” and” unbelievable.”
“I can’t wait,” Kelce replied with a big grin on his face.
Neither can we, sir.
Lofty tent set up outside a Madison Square Garden entrance
Move over Met Gala, the privacy measures being erected outside of Madison Square Garden are giving the star-studded event a run for its money.
A long, white tent lined with lights and shrouded by a large privacy curtain has been set up outside the venue’s 31st Street entrance between 7th and 8th Avenues, tall and wide enough for large SUVs to drive through, if needed.
Several massive black SUVs were seen arriving at the Garden Thursday night, where Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce reportedly held a rehearsal dinner ahead of what is expected to be a much larger wedding celebration tonight.
About 1,000 guests are expected to attend, according to people familiar with the planning, and the event organizers have gone to great lengths to maintain the privacy of the celebrity guests as they roll in this evening.
Kelce proposed to Swift with a mine-cut antique diamond engagement ring
If you’re new here, Travis Kelce proposed to Taylor Swift with a custom engagement ring featuring a rare mine-cut diamond.
“This isn’t somebody who just went into the shop and said ‘I want the biggest diamond,’” said Garret Weldon, president of the Irish Antique Dealers Association and owner of the Dublin-based jeweler Weldon.
The gem, he observed, likely dates back to the 18th or early 19th century.
“At that time, there was very little mechanization of the mining process, so you had to wait for nature to weather the stone out of a rock face” — or for a landslide, or other natural means, to bring the diamond to the surface, he said, making it “rare, unusual and special.”
This man wants to say Taylor Swift’s name 100,000 times outside MSG
Jake Epstein is sitting outside Madison Square Garden repeating Taylor Swift’s name — and it will be a while before he stops.
Epstein is livestreaming himself intentionally saying Taylor’s name over and over, with the goal of saying it 100,000 times before her rumored wedding celebrations this evening. It’s his way, he says, of “doing like a little watch party for the Swifties.”
He was over 16,000 repetitions by 10:30 a.m. ET, according to a tally on the stream.
He has been a Swiftie since he cleaned tables at summer camp to “Love Story,” he said. When asked about reports the wedding had already happened, Epstein said he could conceive of that possibility.
“She knows so many people that she had to do something big,” Epstein said. “That’s what she does, she goes full-out.”
He began streaming his feat on YouTube around 8 a.m.
“If you’re a Swiftie out there and you want to watch with me, I’ll be here all day,” Epstein said.
“I hear you calling on the megaphone”: NYPD gets in on the excitement outside MSG
Equipped with a megaphone and excitement, one New York Police Department deputy chief is once again letting the city know there’s “something big” happening at Madison Square Garden.
Weeks after he cheered on the Knicks during their historic NBA championship run three weeks ago, NYPD deputy chief Timothy Beaudette is shouting into a megaphone — this time, quoting Taylor Swift lyrics – in a new post the NYPD shared today.
“I heard you calling on the megaphone,” Beaudette says, quoting Swift’s hit “The Fate of Ophelia” — a song in which Swift seems to point to her fiancé Travis Kelce saving her from a fate similar to Ophelia’s in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”
“This weather feels like a cruel summer,” the chief goes on. And of course: “Welcome to New York!”
SUV leaves Taylor Swift's New York City Home
The same vehicle believed to have carried Taylor Swift home from Madison Square Garden last night, has just left the singer’s Manhattan residence, just hours before the reported nuptials of her and her NFL player fiancé, Travis Kelce.
Dolly Parton thanks Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce for their donation and jokes she wants their first born
Dolly Parton will always love Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
So sang the country legend in a video released on social media Friday thanking the couple for including one of her beloved projects as part of the $26 million they donated to charities this week.
“Taylor and Travis, it’s Dolly,” Parton said in a video she shared on X. “And I was just told that you two are making a donation of $2 million to my Imagination Library. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
The icon said she was “blown away and overjoyed” with gratitude. “It’s evident that you two have made giving back a key part of your lives,” she said, before making a joke about any future offspring.
“So, hey, when you have your firstborn can I have it,” Parton joked. “Because that is gonna be one special baby!”
Parton said the mission of her Dollywood Foundation is “to dream more, care more, learn more and be more” and once again thanked them for their generosity.
She ended her message singing a line from “I Will Always Love You,” the hit song she both wrote and performed.
Black screens set up near Madison Square Garden, blocking views
A CNN crew outside Madison Square Garden early Friday morning spotted crews setting up black screens that block views along West 31st Street in Manhattan.
A white entrance tent that had been set up outside the building also expanded in size overnight and several police officers were posted along the street.
The screens went up hours before guests are expected to arrive for an event believed to be related to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding festivities.
Is Taylor Swift's wedding date a nod to her favorite number?
By now we know that Taylor Swift likes to do things by the numbers.
Her fondness for the number 13 is well known part of her lore, as is her interest in numerology.
During an appearance last year on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” he threw out that she was there for the show’s 1,713th episode. Swift added the numbers together and noted that they equaled 12 and declared it significant because “The Life of a Showgirl” was her 12th album.
Which brings us to her wedding events being held this year during the July 4th weekend.
July is clearly a sentimental month given that Travis Kelce famously attempted to “shoot his shot” on July 8, 2023 during the Kansas City stop on Swift’s Eras Tour.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ player shared on his podcast “New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce,” that he sadly wasn’t successful at the time.
“I was disappointed that she doesn’t talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings,” he told his brother after Jason mentioned he knew Travis had gone to see the show and asked about it. “So I was a little butthurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her.” The bracelets had his phone number on them.
True love couldn’t be stopped, however, which brings us back to the Fourth of July. With her favorite number being 13: 1+3=4. So you could say, it all adds up.
It started with a friendship bracelet and podcast
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce can thank the advent of podcasts for the genesis of their relationship.
The couple are expected to celebrate their wedding tonight at Madison Square Garden, a milestone that brings to a climax a romance that’s played out in the public eye.
They initially connected in summer 2023 after Kelce said on his podcast “New Heights” that he had attempted to give a friendship bracelet to Swift at her Kansas City Eras Tour stop but was denied access to the singer at the time.
Swift later colorfully described the move as “metal as hell.”
The Chiefs’ tight end gave more insight into his concert experience on a 2025 episode of “New Heights” — on which Swift made a rare appearance — saying he left the concert with “such a desire” to meet her after feeling “mesmerized” and “captivated.”
“I had never been so engulfed in the curiosity of who you were,” he added.
Swift and Kelce started dating in 2023, after Swift’s attendance at one of his Kansas City Chiefs football games seemingly confirmed their link. That same year, they made surprise appearances on an episode of “Saturday Night Live.”
Other times they leaned into the fervor: Kelce made an appearance on stage at a 2024 Eras Tour show in London. Swift has also written several songs believed to be about Kelce on her two recent albums “The Life of a Showgirl” and “The Tortured Poets Department.”
The couple announced their engagement in a joint Instagram post last summer.
Taylor Swift is living out some of her song lyrics about New York City
Even Taylor Swift knew that New York City is the place you go to reinvent yourself.
Her hit 2014 album “1989” opens with the tune “Welcome to New York,” which was both personal and symbolic.
The project marked her departure from being a country music star to a full fledged pop princess.
Swift had officially located to the Big Apple in the spring of 2014, and her love for the city has been evident ever since.
In “Welcome to New York” she sings: “Like any great love, it keeps you guessing/Like any real love, it’s ever-changing/Like any true love, it drives you crazy/But you know you wouldn’t change anything, anything, anything,” followed by, “Welcome to New York, it’s been waitin’ for you.”
How right she is because the city — and the rest of the world — have been eagerly awaiting her and Travis Kelce ever since news broke that Madison Square Garden would be a part of their wedding celebration.
And the couple has truly kept everyone wondering, and driven some Swifties bonkers with the lack of details about their wedding and its surrounding events officially coming from their camp.
But as she sang on her 2012 song “Come Back…Be Here,” we “guess you’re in New York today.”
America is on its "Eras Tour," White House says
Amid the frenzy over Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s expected wedding celebration and America’s 250th birthday, the White House shared a graphic on Instagram that closely resembled the singer’s Eras Tour poster, emblazoned with the label “Americas Eras Tour.”
“It’s been a long time coming…” reads the post, which features photos of President Donald Trump and iconic historical images.
The president and pop star have developed a bit of an adversarial relationship in recent years. Swift has been critical of Trump, telling the Guardian in 2019 she believed Trump was handling his first term as an “autocracy.”
After Swift announced she would endorse Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, Trump posted on Truth Social, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!”
The president’s tone softened slightly after Swift and Kelce announced their engagement. He told reporters Kelce is a “great guy” and Swift is a “terrific person.” “So I wish them a lot of luck,” he said.
