No. I Was Not Invited To The Wedding!
Unless you live under a rock somewhere in the South Pacific, you know that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were married on July 4, 2026. The event was so excessively lavish that it must have cost as much as Jeff Bezos’ wedding, in which Bezos basically rented the city of Venice, Italy.
I think I can legitimately call myself a romantic. I cry at movies. I am not above enjoying a chick flick in which the couple lives happily ever after. My own wedding was a modest and warm event at our home with about twenty members of Jane’s and my extended families.
A Spectacle As Romantic As…
The Swift/Kelce wedding was held in Madison Square Garden (MSG). The Garden is better known for hosting some of the greatest boxing matches of all time than for its romanticism. Reportedly, to provide the needed effort for some sort of love theme, Swift and Kelce had planned to erect a castle inside MSG. It would seem to make some sort of effort at a Walt Disney Snow White fantasy (Could it really not be tacky?).
There were widespread reports before the wedding that the venue would feature a large fairytale “castle” set as part of the décor. Entertainment outlets reported that crews were building an elaborate temporary structure with grand staircases, faux trees, white railings, and garden scenery to transform the arena into a storybook setting.
However, shortly before the ceremony, other reports—including one from People citing sources close to the event—said those “castle” rumors were overstated. According to those sources, there was no literal castle. Instead, the arena was transformed into an elaborate indoor garden with grass, canopies, flowers, trees, and a stage for the ceremony.
What An AI Search Produced
According to published reports, some 1,000 people were invited to the nuptials.
I am trying to wrap my head around all this.
Who has a thousand friends they want at their wedding? How do you even put together a list of a thousand? Maybe if I subscribed to Ancestry.com, I could come up with a thousand.
This is a further sign of this blogger’s age and his retro culture. Being old-school, I view a wedding as a way for people who actually care about the couple getting married to express their joy for the bride and groom. Concomitantly, it is an expression of kinship by the bride and groom with the people privileged to be invited.
I also consider it more than quaint for the bride and groom to personally express their appreciation to each of their guests for coming.
I rather doubt that Ms. Taylor and Mr. Kelsey found the time (and probably not the interest) to personally greet the guests who may have made the trip.
I also wonder what kind of gift to give to two people who have such great wealth. They probably don’t need a good frying pan or a chafing dish.
So, Why Put On Such An Event?
The cost of this event is estimated to be well over $20,000,000.00
There was a time, a charming time, when modesty was considered a virtue and when putting on an event as excessive as this wedding would have been taboo. I was curious as to the scale of J.P. Morgan’s weddings (1800’s), who, at the time, was considered one of the richest, if not the richest, men in the world. He was married twice, and each was a small private affair.
One possibility is that this event is part of a branding/advertising strategy. As Ms. Swift is estimated to be worth over two billion dollars and her concerts are uniformly sold out, she does not appear to require such publicity. (I don’t know what Mr. Kelce’s money situation is, but I expect he is comfortable and the route to his financial fortunes is firmly planted on football turf.)
I Am Honestly Perplexed.
I truly do not understand why Ms. Swift and Mr. Kelce put this event on.
Why would they invite a thousand people? What was the purpose of this thing?
When I think of the people who work two or three jobs to support their families and do not have health care, and I look at this wedding, the most glaring expression of conspicuous consumption I have ever seen, I simply scratch my head.