Swift Reimburses City
Mayor Confirms Taylor Swift Reimburses NYC $160,000 for Wedding Security Costs
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Key Points
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135 NYPD officers were deployed to secure the Madison Square Garden area for the wedding, with several nearby streets closed to nonessential traffic.
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About 1,000 guests attended the ceremony, with Adam Sandler officiating and other high-profile attendees including Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon and Selena Gomez.
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The special-event permit for the wedding was approved only two days before the ceremony, and Swift later reimbursed the city for the permit costs.
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The permit covered street closures and traffic management as part of the security plan for the event.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed that Taylor Swift paid $160,000 to cover the permit and police costs for her wedding to Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden, according to Bleacher Report and Hollywood Reporter. The payment settles questions about whether taxpayers would foot the bill for one of the most high-profile weddings in recent memory.
The wedding drew roughly 1,000 guests on July 3 and required a massive security operation across multiple city blocks. Adam Sandler officiated the ceremony, with guests including Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon, and Selena Gomez.
$160K Payment Covers Permit and Police Overtime
Mayor Mamdani announced at a press conference that Swift had already paid the city in full. The $160,000 covers the special-event permit and police overtime tied to the wedding, Mediaite reported. Critics had called on Swift to reimburse the city, and Mamdani said the payment addressed those concerns directly.
The permit was approved just two days before the ceremony — an unusually tight timeline for an event of this scale. It covered street closures and traffic management as part of the broader security plan, Hollywood Reporter noted. For large private events that use public space, the city bills organizers for permits and related services.
135 NYPD Officers Deployed, Streets Shut Down Near MSG
The NYPD sent 135 officers to secure the area around Madison Square Garden for the wedding, according to Bleacher Report. Some reports put the number as high as 150 to 200 officers across the full event period, including the rehearsal. Several nearby streets were closed to nonessential traffic for multiple days.
The city coordinated closures for both the rehearsal and the ceremony itself. That kind of multi-day operation requires significant overtime pay and logistics planning. Mamdani said the $160,000 payment covered those required safeguards, Just Jared reported.
$160K Is a Small Slice of the Total Wedding Cost
The city permit fee is a fraction of the overall event budget. Officials described total city expenditures as running into the tens of millions of dollars when factoring in the full security and logistics operation. Early speculation online floated a nine-figure price tag for the wedding overall, though officials did not confirm those figures.
Still, the $160,000 reimbursement is described as covering what the city is legally entitled to bill organizers for. Large private events using public resources — like street closures and police presence — are routinely billed at a permit rate. Swift's payment follows standard practice, Hollywood Reporter noted.
A-List Guest List and Adam Sandler as Officiant
About 1,000 guests filled Madison Square Garden for the ceremony. Adam Sandler officiated, a detail confirmed by Mediaite. The guest list reads like an awards-show seating chart: Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon, and Selena Gomez were all in attendance.
The scale of the event — celebrity guests, a Manhattan venue, and a multi-day NYPD operation — made the question of who pays for security a flashpoint. With Swift's $160,000 payment now confirmed, Mayor Mamdani said the city's costs for required safeguards have been covered.
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