It has been a little over a week since Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce tied the knot at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
No photos of the nuptials have been released, but we have started to learn some details about the lavish affair. Swift and her beau both wore Christian Dior for the extravaganza, which is said to have included 20-minute vows and raffles for luxury prizes.
There has been conflicting reporting about whether champagne shortages and long buffet lines stymied the evening, but one theme seems to be emerging. Many of the – count ’em – 1,000 people who were there weren’t actually sure how or why they made the guest list.
On Tuesday’s show, Megyn was joined by celebrity reporter Rob Shuter, author of It Started With a Whisper, to discuss what he has learned from attendees and why it seems like the wedding had very little to do with actually getting married.
None Too Well
Shuter told Megyn he has spoken to several people who attended Swift and Kelce’s wedding and heard a very similar recounting from all of them. “My reporting is that a lot of people at that wedding were asking one question, which is: ‘You know them?’ Nobody knew them. Nobody,” he said.
To that point, NBA legend Charles Barkley recently shared he “politely declined” the invite because he has a blanket rule about not attending weddings. Even so, he also admitted he doesn’t have the strongest connection to the newlyweds.
“I thought it was going to be a crap show,” Barkley told Unfiltered with Ricky Bo and Bill Colarulo. “I love Travis and Jason [Kelce], and I’ve only met Taylor one time, but yeah, I did get an invite.”
Barkley seems to have been right. Shuter said he has been told it was nearly impossible to get near Swift and Kelce inside MSG. “I spoke to four people who went to the wedding, and they wanted to say thank you. They couldn’t get near [Swift] because she had security around her, and so they couldn’t thank her for inviting them,” he revealed.
According to Variety, those who scored an invite to the nuptials received watermarked, digital invitations alongside a very romantic non-disclosure agreement. Shuter said that further limited people’s ability to contact the couple.
“Even if you can’t speak to the bride on the day of the wedding – maybe that happens – you text them the next day… No one’s got her phone number. No one’s got her email. They have this anonymous 1-800 invite,” he added.
Champagne Problems
In Shuter’s view, the lengthy guest list of Hollywood celebs (think: Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Dakota Jonhson, Jennifer Lopez), sports stars (hi, Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, and Matthew Stafford), and entertainment and fashion industry powerbrokers (i.e. Steven Spielberg, Baz Luhrmann, Adam Aron, Tommy Hilfiger, and more) was less about celebrating their union and more about setting themselves up for the future.
“This wasn’t a wedding. This was an announcement to the world that Travis is open for business,” Shuter posited. “If you want to make a film, cast my husband… Tommy Hilfiger was at this wedding. I guarantee you, next Fashion Week, [Kelce] will be sitting front row at Tommy.”
It perhaps helps to explain the odd venue choice. “It makes me laugh that everybody talks about the privacy, and how they wanted this to be private. You don’t get married at Madison Square Garden with 1,000 people watching if you want privacy. You just don’t do it,” Shuter said. “This was like a branding opportunity.”
He isn’t sure, however, that will pan out the way the pair hopes. “I think the knock-on effects this is going to have for Taylor Swift might be quite significant because the question that I’m hearing a lot now is: Was this just an odd choice; was this just a strange decision? Or did she trick us all along; was this who she always was,” Shuter shared.
“This is not the Grammys; it’s your wedding. On that one day, you couldn’t have a moment for yourself and your groom? It had to be this production, and it had to be this overtop extravaganza for people who you don’t know,” he noted. “It’s really telling, isn’t it? It’s a side of Taylor that I think is surprising to a lot of people. People that have covered her, like me, for a long time are a little less surprised about it.”
Ultimately, Shuter believes the message of the day was clear: “It definitely felt to me more like an announcement that we were now an A-list couple, we’re open for business, and, if you want to invest in us, please come ask.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Shuter by tuning in to episode 1,359 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.