It was Taylor Swift who paid the price for her marriage to Travis Kelce, not the citizens of New York. Mayor Zohran Mamdani put it in black and white, who in a press conference on July 10 confirmed how the singer paid over 160 thousand dollars for the permit needed to celebrate the wedding at Madison Square Garden.
The couple got married on July 3 in a very tight ceremony, with more than a thousand guests and the closure of several streets in the Midtown area. Those closures had sparked criticism, with some politicians asking Swift and Kelce to reimburse the police and taxpayers for security costs.
.@NYCMayor Mamdani on Taylor Swift paying New York City back for police overtime during her wedding: “Taylor Swift will be paying… has already paid the cost of the permit that was lodged, which was over $160,000 for that event and for the response to that event.” pic.twitter.com/rlYhUmi9AS
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 10, 2026
When asked by a reporter who wanted to know if the singer would reimburse the city for the officers' overtime costs, Mamdani responded that Swift had already paid for the permit, “over $160,000 for the event and related management,” adding that the permit had only been finalized in the days immediately preceding the ceremony. For the occasion, the police had deployed dozens of officers to manage closures and traffic around the arena.
Little has been revealed about the wedding. According to the singer's historic press agent, Tree Paine, the couple gave up traditional bridesmaids and witnesses: her brother Austin Swift acted as “man of honor” for the bride, while Jason Kelce, Travis' brother, was the groom's best man. Adam Sandler officiated.
Paul McCartney and Stevie Nicks performed on stage, and guests included Ed Sheeran, Selena Gomez, Bradley Cooper, Zoë Kravitz, the Haim sisters, Ellie Goulding, Camila Cabello, Julianne Moore, Hugh Grant and Jessica Chastain, among many others. In the days leading up to their wedding, Swift and Kelce had donated $26 million to twenty charities across the United States
