June 28, 2026

Taylor Swift's Wedding: The NYT and CNN Confirm the MSG Permit, July 2–4 Street Closures, a No-Gifts Rule

Show Notes
Transcript

Taylor Swift's wedding to Travis Kelce just moved from tabloid chatter to the paper trail: the New York Times and CNN have confirmed that Madison Square Garden is booked for a multi-day Fourth of July weekend event, backed by a real street-closure permit filed with the city. Neither Taylor's nor Travis's name is anywhere on the application — but New York agencies are planning around a major July 3rd event anyway. Plus: a no-gifts rule, a thousand-name guest list, and the bride flashing her ring on the word "ring" in Nashville. Still not one official word from the couple. 📋 The confirmation: NYT and CNN report MSG is rented for the holiday weekend — roughly 100 guests July 2nd, around 1,000 on July 3rd — with a street permit (filed by event firm Winick Productions) closing the area July 2nd through midday July 4th

🤫 The smokescreen caveat: why the Times itself says the couple may exchange real vows privately first, with the Garden as the public celebration — and the June 13th Rhode Island head-fake that fooled everyone

🎁 The no-gifts rule: 49ers tight end George Kittle confirms his invite, reveals the couple banned gifts — then immediately starts plotting how to break it

💍 The reported guest list: Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco, Karlie Kloss, Cara Delevingne, Zoe Kravitz, Ed Sheeran, Suki Waterhouse, the Haim sisters (tabloid speculation, not a published list)

🎤 Nashville moment: Taylor surprises Tight End University's concert to sing "Love Story" with Lainey Wilson — and flashes her engagement ring on the line about the ring

🤠 The country-era theory: "Love Story," a country duet, and "I Knew It, I Knew You" climbing to No. 2 on the U.S. country chart and holding No. 1 in the U.K. for a second week — are the breadcrumbs pointing back to her roots?

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WEBVTT

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Caalarrocashawk media, a permit, a canopy, a street closure from

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July tewod to midday on the fourth, A block of

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hotel rooms booked by the Kansas City Chiefs and Amtrak police.

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The people who patrol the train station underneath Madison Square

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Garden quietly told to brace for a Taylor Swift wedding

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over the holiday weekend.

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It's Sunday, June twenty eighth. Welcome back to the show.

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We are now days away from what might be the

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most anticipated wedding in modern American pop culture. And this

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week the paper trail finally caught up to the rumor.

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The New York Times confirmed it, CNN confirmed it. The

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Mayor's basically already RSVP'd no. So let's walk through exactly

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what we know, what we think we know, and what

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is almost certainly and elaborate Taylor Swift smokescreen.

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Let's get into it.

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Okay, here's the big one, and this is the story

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that moved the wedding from tabloid chatter into the New

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York Times has multiple sources territory. According to the Times,

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Taylor Swift has rented out Madison Square Garden for a

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multi day event over the fourth of July weekend. Two

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people with knowledge of the plans laid out the shape

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of it. On July second, an intimate gathering of around

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one hundred people, then on July third, the big one

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roughly one thousand guests, a splashier celebration with the possibility

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of stage performances because of course there are stage performances.

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It's Taylor Swift. Did you think she was not going

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to have a stage And the receipts are real. A

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permit was filed with New York City Street Activity Permit

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Office to close the streets around the garden from July

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second through mid day on July fourth. It was filed

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in early June by Winnick Productions, a prominent event planning

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company that's done major red carpet events and notably plans weddings.

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The permit asked for authorization to set up a tent

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or canopy outside the arena, space for trucks to load

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and unload, and room for somewhere between five hundred and

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nine hundred and ninety nine attendees. CNN independently confirmed that

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permit through two law enforcement sources. Here's the detail I love,

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though neither Taylor's name nor Travis's name is anywhere on

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that application. The most famous couple on the planet still

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has to file the same street permit as a block

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party or a farmer's market. There's something genuinely beautiful about that.

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Somewhere in a New York City permit office, the wedding

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of the century is filed under an event, and the

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supporting evidence keeps stacking up. Several members of the Chiefs

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reportedly booked rooms at the Marriott Marquee in Times Square

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for dates around July third. Taylor's production people were spotted

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at Rocklditz, the production campus out in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania,

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where massive concert sets get built, and a source familiar

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with invitations told CNN that guests were told back in

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the spring New York City July third, now the responsible

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caveat because we always give it. Could this all be

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a giant smokescreen? Absolutely? The Times itself notes it's possible,

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even likely, that the couple actually exchanges vows somewhere private first,

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with the garden as the big public celebration. Taylor is

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famous for headfakes. Remember, tabloids swore up and down the

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wedding was June thirteenth at a hotel near her place

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in Rhode Island, and the swifties who flew out there

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got nothing but a nice weekend by the sea. So

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MSG could be the real thing, a decoy, or a

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little of both.

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But here's the tell.

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New York City agencies are proceeding as if a major

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swift event is happening July third. When the city starts

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planning around your wedding, it's probably your wedding. One last

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fun fact on the venue. A wedding at the Garden

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isn't unprecedented. The musicians ly Stone got married there in

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nineteen seventy four, and one Manhattan publicist told The Times

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this thing could rise to the level of an electrified

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met gala in Midtown on fourth of July weekend during

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America's two hundred and fiftieth Birthday, with a World Cup

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in town and tall ships sailing into the harbor.

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Godspeed to the NYPD.

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So if you're one of the lucky thousand on that

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July third list, what do you even get the couple

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who has quite literally everything, Nothing, that's the answer.

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Nothing.

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This week forty nine ers tight end George Kittle, who

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confirmed that he and his wife Claire snagged an invite.

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Revealed that Taylor and Travis have imposed a strict no

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gifts rule. His exact words when asked what he's buying them,

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they said, absolutely no gifts. And then, because George Kittle

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is a delight, he immediately started plotting how to break

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the rule.

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Anyway.

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He mentioned that Travis for some reason likes old coins,

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so he's thinking of getting him one. His review of

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that plan sounds expensive. His wedding wish for the couple

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was simpler, just have so much fun with all your friends.

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Now the guest list, and I want to be clear

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here the names floating around are tabloid speculation, not a

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published RSVP sheet, so hold them loosely. But the reported

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shortlist of friends who would obviously be there reads like

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a met galas step and repeat. Selena Gomez and her

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new husband Benny Blanco, Carly Kloss, Kara Delavine, Zoe Kravitz,

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ed sheeran Suki Waterhouse, and the reports assume her partner

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Robert Pattinson, plus the Him sisters stay Danielle and Alana,

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who at this point are basically permanent fixtures in the

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Taylor cinematic universe, a thousand guests, an a list this deep,

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no gifts, and a windowless arena built to keep paparazzi out.

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They thought of everything, including apparently talking George Kittle out

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of buying a rare coin. Now, before all of this happens,

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the couple had one more public moment this week, and

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it was a good one. On Tuesday night, June twenty third,

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in Nashville, Travis Kelce hosted tight End University, the annual

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summit he co founded with George Kittle and Greg Olsen

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where tight Ends from around the league come to train,

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study film, and crucially throw a concert called tight Ends

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and Friends down at the Pinnacle, and the lineup was

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stacked with country talent Dan Plus, Shay John, Party, Mitchell Tenpenny,

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Laney Wilson and more. And then, toward the end of

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the night, a surprise Laney Wilson took the stage and

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told the crowded story the first time she ever saw

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Taylor Swift perform. Wilson was fourteen, Taylor was sixteen, and

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there were maybe thirty people in the room, four of

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whom were Laney's own family. She said she knew that

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day she was watching something special, and then she welcomed

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her friend to the stage. Taylor, who was already there

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to support Travis, came out said she and Laney would

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take a very special request from George Kittle himself turned

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to the band and asked, do you wanna do Love Story?

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So they did her two thousand and eight country pop classic,

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trading verses and harmonies, and here's the moment fans are

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still screenshotting when Taylor hit the line, he knell to

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the ground and pulled out a ring. She smirked, whipped

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her left hand into the air, and showed off that

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engagement ring to a crowd that absolutely lost it. Days

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out from the wedding, Singing that lyric, flashing that ring.

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She knows exactly what she's doing.

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She always does, and that brings us to the theory

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of the week, because with Taylor, a song choice is

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never just a song choice. Love Story is a country

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pop song in the swifties. Notice that Taylor singing a

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country song alongside a country superstar like Landy Wilson comes

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right on the heels of her other recent country moment,

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her new single I Knew It, I Knew You from

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the Toy Story five soundtrack tied to Jesse the Cowgirl.

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Last year at this same event, she sang shake It

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Off with Kane Brown this year full Country twice over

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coincidence with Taylor.

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The smart money is always on No.

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So the the remaking the rounds is that Taylor's next

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era might be a return to her country roots. Nobody's

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confirmed that, And to be clear, this is easter egg reading,

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not reporting. But she's never said she wouldn't do another

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country album. And the bread crumbs are piling up. And

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here's the thing. The bread crumbs are working commercially. I

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Knew It, I Knew You is dominating over in the UK.

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It's holding at number one on the Official Singles Chart

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for a second straight week, which makes it just the

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fourth Taylor song ever to lead that chart more than once.

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It's now tied with Look What You Made Me Do

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as her third longest running UK number one. The only

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thing standing between Olivia Rodrigo and a new chart topper

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this week Taylor blocking her at the Summit by a

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single spot. And here in the US, the track has

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climbed to number two on the country chart. A toy

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Story soundtrack cut out performing half the pop releases of

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the summer Cowgirl.

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Jesse would be proud more in a moment.

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So here's where we stand, with the calendar about to

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flip to July. The permits are filed, the streets are closing,

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the chiefs have hotel rooms, there's a no gifts rule

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and a thousand name guest list, and the bride spent

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the week in Nashville flashing her ring on the word ring.

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If this is a smoke screen, it is the most

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committed smoke screen in event planning history.

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And as always, not.

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One official word from Taylor or Travis themselves, which means

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we recorded.

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This before the big weekend.

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By the time we're back here next Sunday, we may

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finally know whether the Garden delivered the wedding of the

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century or whether Taylor pulled off the greatest misdirection of

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her career. Either way, we'll have a lot to talk

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about before you go. One quick thing. If you love

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this show, do us a favor and share this episode

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with a friend. Got a Taylor's swift friend who needs

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to hear all this, send it their way. If you're

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listening on Spotify, drop us a comment. We read them,

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and come find us on Facebook.

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Just search Taylor Swift Today. We'd love to see you

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over there. That's the week.

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We'll see you next Sunday, possibly on the other side

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of a wedding.

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Thanks for listening.