Taylor Swift's wedding celebrations kick off as stars descend on New York's Madison Square Garden

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s rumoured wedding celebrations at New York’s Madison Square Garden appear to have kicked off already.

A stream of black SUVs were seen pulling up to the Manhattan venue to drop guests off under a white canopy tent.

The popstar and NFL player, both 36, hosted a rehearsal dinner on Thursday night, a law enforcement source told Associated Press.

However the Daily Mail reported that a private wedding ceremony would take place at the arena on Thursday evening.

The couple will then tie the knot on Friday night in front of 1,000 friends and relatives at the famous arena, according to reports.

Famous friends of the couple including Lena Dunham and frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff were spotted in formal attire on Thursday evening.

Singer Selena Gomez, the Haim sisters – Este, Danielle and Alana, and supermodel Gigi Hadid are expected to be bridesmaids.

Singers Ed Sheeran and Suki Waterhouse, as well as several of Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs teammates, are also expected to attend.

The Knicks’ starting five, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns, have reportedly been invited, following their historic NBA championship victory a few weeks ago.

It comes after months of speculation about where the couple – who got engaged in August last year – would get married.

The event will be taking 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.

Ahead of the wedding, Swift’s publicist confirmed the couple have donated 26 million dollars (£19.4 million) to 20 charities across the United States, largely in areas that the pair have links to.

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.

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.

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 birth stone, opal.