As Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce prepare to tie the knot, we look back at their relationship
By Mark Savage Music correspondent It looks official: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are expected to celebrate their wedding with a party at New York's Madison Square Garden this weekend.
Speculation about the ceremony has been rife ever since the couple announced their engagement in an Instagram post last August.
The couple have said almost nothing about it, but you can’t book New York’s biggest indoor concert venue for an entire weekend without causing a few whispers.
The nuptials represent more than two celebrities tying the knot.
They’ll become one of the most powerful married couples in America, with a combined wealth of almost $2.2bn (£1.6bn), and huge sway across the music, sport, film, podcast, publishing and television industries.
But for Swifties, this is the culmination of a two-decade fairytale.
In anticipation of the big event, here’s a look at how their relationship evolved.
A bumpy start Travis was spotted attending Taylor’s Eras Tour when it hit Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium on 8 July 2023. He watched from a private box – but was seen meeting fans and trading friendship bracelets.
He later revealed on his New Heights podcast that he’d tried to meet Swift – but his advances were rejected, because she was protecting her voice.
"If you’re up on Taylor Swift concerts, there are friendship bracelets, and I received a bunch of them being there, but I wanted to give Taylor Swift one with my number on it," he said later that month. "I was a little butt-hurt I didn’t get to hand her one."
The clip went viral and got Taylor’s attention. It felt like "he was standing outside of my apartment, holding a boom box saying, ‘I want to go on a date with you’,” she later recalled.
Going public After the podcast, Swift had "a lot of people whispering in my ear", encouraging her to hook up with Travis. She caved in over the summer.
The couple went public on 24 September, when Taylor spent the day cheering on Travis’s American football team, the Kansas City Chiefs, alongside his mum Donna.
When he scored a touchdown, cameras caught her celebrating with an enthusiastic, "Let’s ****ing go!". The couple later left together.
Taylor’s fans were amazed. The star had usually gone to great lengths to protect her privacy – but this was a very public launch for a new relationship.
Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Swift cheers from a suite with Donna Kelce, mother of Travis, as the Kansas City Chiefs play the Chicago Bears
A few days afterwards, Travis confirmed as much. "Shoutout to Taylor for pulling up!" he said on his podcast. "That was pretty ballsy."
Two months later, in Argentina, Travis caught the Eras Tour for a second time – and Taylor made a significant change to the set in his honour.
For the last song of the night, she swapped the lyric "Karma is the guy on the screen coming straight home to me" for "Karma is the guy on the Chiefs coming straight home to me".
When the concert wrapped, she ran into his arms for a kiss.
Temperature rising By this point, Taylor had completely dropped her guard.
In January 2024, the Kansas Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens to secure their place at the Super Bowl - and the star rushed onto the pitch for a lingering smooch with their star player.
A month later, she jetted to the Super Bowl from a concert in Tok…