It’s official — global popstar Taylor Swift and footballer Travis Kelce are getting married. And there’s a possibility you may hear wedding bells close to home.The couple may have rented out Madison Square Garden for the July Fourth weekend, fueling rumors the two are tying the knot at the world-renowned music and sports venue above Penn Station.
As Kelce and Swift prepare to take their big step, high schoolers across the Lower Hudson Valley are taking their own. The Journal News visited two high school graduations to see how students, friends and family feel about the celebrity couple getting hitched so close to home.
Opinions ran the gamut. Here’s what people said.
Suffern High School Graduation at Clover Stadium
As graduates and attendees filed into Clover Stadium to watch Suffern High School’s class of 2026 walk the stage Thursday, June 25, some shared their opinions — good and bad — on Swift, Kelce and the rumored plans for their big day.
Graduates Jordana Maritato and Miriam Ostreicher said they were blasting Swift on the drive to the ceremony.
“We love Taylor Swift. I love her music,” said Maritato, who has been a die-hard fan since she was little.
They said they were shocked to hear she could be walking the aisle so close to home and had initially expected the wedding to take place in a far-away vineyard.
“I think it’s a little risky,” said Ostreicher. “Everyone knows where it is, so people are gonna be all over the place … they’re probably gonna close the streets.”
“I would love to go,” added Maritato. “But that’s not possible.”
Others feel they’ve seen enough of the global popstar.
As she waited for her little sister to walk the stage, Elizabeth Lodini said she has kept Swift, who is a New York Knicks fan known to frequent games, from flooding her social media feeds by exiting each post that pops up about the singer.
“It’s just not my kind of music,” she said.
However, she’s envisioning big crowds at MSG on July 3, the rumored wedding date, especially if swarms of fans camp out at the venue for a glimpse of the happy couple.
“The fact that the people that have to commute from out of New York City and have deal with that traffic,” said Lodini.
Fellow attendees Jonathan and Jaden Boereau were in the stands for their cousin. The brothers said they aren’t Swift fans, but frequently come across her name and music.
“It’s Taylor Swift,” said Jonathan Boereau. “You can’t not hear it.”
While her songs are widely known, the Boereaus noted her personal life isn’t.
“She makes her songs, but after that we don’t really hear from her,” said Jonathan, adding that her wedding would likely draw the masses to midtown.
“It’s MSG … no matter who’s going, as long as it’s a big name in MSG, everyone’s gonna be there,” he said.
Some are less convinced the knot is getting tied there.
“I don’t believe she’s actually getting married,” said Suffern High School sophomore and Swift fan Lily Somogyi. “I just think it’s not her. I think it’s just a fake thing she’s saying.”
Somogyi and her friend Skylie Prizel, a fellow sophomore at Suffern, believe the nuptials will have a real wedding with fewer people in Rhode Island, where Swift owns a 12,000 square-foot oceanfront mansion.
“She’s a very real person,” said Prizel. “[MSG] is a fake place to have a wedding.”
Woodlands High School Graduation
As graduates of Woodlands High School adjusted caps and smoothed out gowns, they refused to feed into rumors the wedding was happening a mere hour’s drive from their Hartsdale school.
One graduate, Mayrin Chavez, is a self-proclaimed Swiftie on her way to esthetician school.
“I’ve listened to her since I was like two,” she said. “My sister used to play her for me, I just grew up with it.”
She said she doubts the Swift-Kelce wedding is taking place in the behemoth Manhattan stadium, especially following last year’s intimate engagement announcement from the couple.
“She’s a very private person,” said Rinchaved. “I don’t think she would want to have it openly displayed.”
Graduate Marissa McConnell hadn’t heard of the wedding rumors at MSG before Friday, June 26, but she said she’s concerned for public safety if they turn out to be true.
“I do think her fan base can get a little crazy sometimes,” she said, thinking back to when fans swarmed the 2023 wedding of Jack Antonoff and Margaret Qualley because Swift was in attendance.
“I can’t imagine how crazy it’s gonna be when it’s their own wedding,” said McConnell.
With midtown still reeling from the Knicks championship celebration, graduate Nycole Tomala said she’d be shocked anyone would want to get married at the Garden.
“She’s always traveling everywhere, it’s so weird to get married over here,” she said. “It’s such a random place to get married.”
Tomala, who grew up with a Swift-obsessed sister, is expecting a mob of friendship bracelets and glitter to descend upon MSG the following weekend.
“Every fan girl is gonna be outside just going crazy,” she said. “It’s not going to be private at all.”
Another graduate, Eli Cinco, “hates” all things Taylor Swift.
“She’s famous for no reason,” he said. “If you listen to real music, that’s not music, it’s just words.”
He said he tries his best to avoid Swift talk online and in person, and “doesn’t care” about her personal life — including the rumored wedding.
“It’s crazy to me how they’re getting married there,” he said.
(This story was updated with new visuals and a corrected spelling.)
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: How Hudson Valley teens really feel about Taylor Swift NYC wedding rumor
Reporting by Leia Green, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Leia Green, Rockland/Westchester Journal News | USA TODAY Network
