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Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were married on Friday at Madison Square Garden in New York, in a private ceremony that brought together nearly a thousand guests and has been described by many as the "royal wedding of the United States."
The official confirmation arrived in the most spectacular way possible: a screen outside the venue lit up with the message "JUST&T MARRIED!", a play on words with their initials. The singer's representative, Tree Paine, officially confirmed the union at 7:30 PM local time.
Both grooms, aged 36, wore exclusive designs from Christian Dior Haute Couture created by Jonathan Anderson.
The fashion house specified in a statement that this was "the designer's first haute couture wedding dress for a world-famous celebrity." The shoes were custom-made by Christian Louboutin, and the bride wore jewelry from Cartier. Kelce, for his part, donned a white tuxedo designed for the occasion.
The ceremony was officiated by actor and comedian Adam Sandler, who met the Kansas City Chiefs player during the filming of "Happy Gilmore 2," in which Kelce made a cameo.
The spokesperson for Swift specified: "Taylor and Travis did not have bridesmaids or witnesses. Instead, her brother Austin Swift served as Taylor's 'man of honor' and Jason Kelce has been Travis's best man. The ceremony united both families and was officiated by their friend Adam Sandler."
The doors to the venue opened at 4:00 PM for a cocktail in the sixth-floor lobby, and the ceremony began at 5:30 PM. The celebration continued into the early hours of the morning.
The organization was handled by the renowned wedding planner Mark Seed, who was also responsible for Jennifer Lawrence's wedding.
The night before, on Thursday, a rehearsal dinner was held for a hundred guests at the Infosys Theater, within Madison Square Garden itself. Attendees received as a gift personalized crystal glasses with real diamonds embedded, a detail that foreshadowed the magnitude of the event.
The guest list for the wedding was a parade of celebrities: Selena Gomez, Ed Sheeran, Gigi and Bella Hadid, Bradley Cooper, Karlie Kloss, Zoë Kravitz, Emma Stone, Dakota Johnson, Hugh Grant, Jason Sudeikis, Ethan Hawke, Jimmy Fallon, Brad Pitt, and Tommy Hilfiger, among many others. They all signed strict confidentiality agreements and were prohibited from using mobile phones.
The notable absence was Blake Lively, a former close friend of Swift, who, according to the media outlet TMZ, was in the northern part of New York State with her family.
The security operation was unprecedented. More than 130 police officers from the New York Police Department, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police, and Amtrak Police were deployed around the venue. West 31st and West 33rd streets were closed, and concrete barriers similar to those used in the NBA Finals were installed.
Kenneth Corey, former chief of the NYPD, summed it up succinctly: "I spent nearly 35 years in the New York Police Department, and there has never been a wedding even remotely of this magnitude."
The estimated cost of the link ranges from 15 to 20 million dollars, according to wedding planners consulted by specialized media. The permit for large-scale events can reach up to 66,000 dollars per day.
The wedding coincided with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the United States and a historic heat wave in the city.
As a symbolic gesture, the lights of the Empire State Building were illuminated in light blue that night, referencing the tradition of wearing "something blue" at a wedding to bring good luck.
Grace Rauh, executive director of the citizen oversight group Citizens Union, expressed it this way: "It's a fantastic announcement about how wonderful New York is. We get it. We’re from here. She could get married anywhere."
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