Selena Gomez, Lena Dunham, and Bradley Cooper were among the celebrities dressed to impress as celebrations began for Taylor Swift's wedding to Travis Kelce. The pop superstar and the NFL player are expected to tie the knot in New York City on Friday.
Pre-Wedding Festivities
Gomez, a longtime friend of Swift, wore a black floral strapless gown and diamond earrings for what is thought to be a pre-wedding celebration. She shared videos of herself in the back seat of a car ahead of the event but was without her husband, Benny Blanco. She also shared a throwback photo of the couple and wrote, "I wish Benny was here rn."
Swift and Kelce are poised to get married inside Madison Square Garden, which has been the epicentre of extensive and lavish preparations over the last few days. Ahead of the evening celebration on Thursday, Girls creator Lena Dunham, also a longtime friend of Swift, was captured arriving at the venue in a video obtained by People.
Jack Antonoff, one of Swift's signature collaborators and an ex-partner of Dunham, was also photographed making his way to the venue dressed in a suit. Bradley Cooper, the boyfriend of Swift's friend Gigi Hadid, was snapped in a dark suit getting into a car heading to the venue.
Also photographed heading inside were sports commentator Charissa Thompson; Claire Kittle, wife of San Francisco 49ers player George Kittle; former NFL star Ross Travis; and broadcaster Erin Andrews. Photos from inside the arena show decor made up of peach-coloured roses, while exterior aerial shots show the venue lit up with pink lights.
Charitable Donation
Elsewhere, Union Station in Kansas City, where Kelce plays for the Kansas City Chiefs, was lit up in honour of the couple after they donated $26 million (£19.4 million) to charity ahead of their wedding. A post on the station's X page said: "Tonight, we light up Union Station in orange and teal for Taylor Swift and red and gold for Travis Kelce. Thank you, Travis and Taylor, for your incredible generosity today, supporting charities across the nation, including here in Kansas City, and making a lasting impact that will touch thousands of lives."
The 20 charities receiving donations include nine food banks, an animal cruelty organisation, seven educational programmes, and three children's hospitals. One of the food banks, Harvesters, is based in Kansas City, as is Children's Mercy Hospital.
Wedding Details
After months of speculation about where the couple—who got engaged in August last year—would get married, a law enforcement official briefed on the security plans told the Associated Press that the couple would host a smaller rehearsal dinner on Thursday evening before getting married at the arena the next evening. However, the Daily Mail reported that a private wedding ceremony would take place at the arena on Thursday evening, with a lavish party to follow on Friday. The event will also take place over the Fourth of July weekend, which marks 250 years of US independence. Over the years, Swift has regularly celebrated the July 4 holiday by hosting large parties.
Swift and Kelce have reportedly invited 1,000 guests to the Friday evening do. The Haim sisters—Este, Danielle, and Alana—are expected to attend alongside singers Ed Sheeran and Suki Waterhouse, as well as several of Kelce's Kansas City Chiefs teammates. The Knicks' starting five—Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns—have also reportedly been invited, following their historic NBA championship victory a few weeks ago.
Although the couple have not publicly confirmed any details about their wedding, crews have been seen unloading equipment from trucks outside Madison Square Garden, including a large carpet.
Official Statements
New York police commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference on Wednesday that the department was tracking an event at the New York arena. "The NYPD will, of course, have a detail in place, but I'm not going to go into more specifics at this time," she said. New York City's mayor, Zohran Mamdani, also confirmed that a permit was filed for a large event. "We are fully prepared. There isn't anything to share beyond that," he said.
Romance Timeline
Swift and Kelce announced their engagement in a joint Instagram post, which read: "Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married." Their romance began in 2023 after Kelce publicly announced on his podcast that he was interested in Swift, which she later said was a "wild, romantic gesture." Later that year, she was spotted watching one of his games, during which she was seen sitting next to his mother. At an Eras Tour concert in November that year, Swift first changed the lyrics to her song Karma from "karma is the guy on the screen coming straight home to me" to "karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me," in reference to Kelce.
A few months later, she celebrated with Kelce after his team won the Super Bowl, while he later attended one of her Eras Tour shows in London in June 2025. On August 26, in a joint Instagram post, Swift and Kelce announced their engagement, sharing photos of the proposal and of the pair embracing in a garden. Her album The Life Of A Showgirl was released two months later and featured several songs referencing Kelce, including Opalite, which mentions his birthstone, opal.
