It’s been two weeks since Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce officially became husband and wife, and we still can’t seem to stop talking about it. Fans are diving into who was invited (Karlie Kloss) and who wasn’t there (Swift’s godchildren), and that first look at her wedding ring. It’s not just Swifties and celebrities who are marveling over it, either, as one New York police officer commented that the celebrity wedding was unlike anything he’s seen in 35 years.
I imagine being a cop in NYC for three and a half decades would mean you’ve seen a little bit of everything, including parades, foreign dignitaries and other large-scale events. However, according to former NYPD department chief Kenneth Corey, there’s never been another wedding like Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s. He told The New York Times:
There is nothing comparable to her level of stardom and her fan base — you’re on the level of Elvis, Michael Jackson or the Beatles in their heyday. I was at the N.Y.P.D. for almost 35 years, and there was no wedding near this scale.
According to a police memo titled “Taylor Swift wedding at Madison Square Garden” that was obtained by the NYT, hundreds of police officers were expected to be on patrol. Streets were also shut down around Madison Square Garden, which the “Wi$h Li$t” singer paid New York City quite a bit to do.
While there were concerns that Penn Station would also be closed over the Fourth of July weekend (understandably rubbing New Yorkers the wrong way), it was reportedly not fully closed.
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end and the Life of a Showgirl artist’s nuptials fell during quite a busy time for the NYPD. Officers had already racked up a ton of overtime due to the New York Knicks’ NBA Finals games, championship and parade, not to mention the World Cup matches that the city hosted. In addition to Taylor Swift’s wedding, there were also other scheduled events for that weekend to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday. According to Kenneth Corey:
The demands on the department, in terms of planned events, is probably unmatched in history.
That certainly is a lot, even for “The City That Never Sleeps,” but Taylor Swift is no longer New York’s problem (until she returns home, of course). She and Travis Kelce reportedly jetted off to Big Sky, Montana, for a short getaway before heading to Orange County, California, for former Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster’s wedding.
Their next stop was Palm Beach, Florida (!!!), on July 12, and who knows where the newlyweds will pop up next? (Robert Irwin is hard-pitching Australia, just saying.)
It’s pretty wild (some might say impressive) that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding was big enough to stun a former NYPD department chief, but I don’t think anybody really expected this power couple to go low-key with their big day.
Hopefully she’ll release photos and more official information at some point, but until then, we can continue to bask in all the things our Disney+ subscriptions have to offer in the Swiftie-verse, including two versions of The Eras Tour concert movie, the End of an Era docuseries and a live album with her Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions special.
