I believe it’s a wonderful thing to care. What makes us powerful as humans is our subjectivity and interests. I love nothing more than hearing about topics my friends and family are obsessed with, despite having not the slightest interest myself. So, that’s why I don’t write that headline lightly.
Now, I love a wedding more than the next hopeless romantic. Since I started working in entertainment journalism, I have found myself drawn to the extravagance that comes with the territory of celebrity weddings that much more.
Was I annoyed that Zendaya and Tom Holland secretly got married? Yes, like the rest of the world, I was dying to see what work of art she and Law Roach had inevitably chosen for her dress. Did it make me respect the A-list actors? Absolutely.
The A-List nuptial influx
This year, nuptials seem to be the latest trend. Following the Spider-Man: Brand New Day actors’ wedding announcement and speculations around whether it was all an elaborate PR ploy for The Drama (either way, I was impressed), there came the – dare I say almost sickeningly – romantic affair that was Dua Lipa and Callum Turner’s surprise civil ceremony in London. This was followed by their $1.73 million three-day wedding ceremony in Palermo, Sicily. Apparently, the couple gifted each of their 200 guests a 12-piece Le Creuset cookware set? For context, each set is valued between £750 and £1,200…
It was then I realised I wasn’t only envious of the A-list love birds, but also their nearest and dearest! What new lows I have reached!
However, I will say that compared to the influx of Mrs and Mr Swift’s wedding detail updates flooding my feed, I didn’t mind getting a sneak peek into these stars’ luxurious Italian ceremony, embroidered ‘D & C’ napkins and all! However, I drew the line at Dua’s ridiculously chic honeymoon pictures. Envy is a bad colour on me.
So, what is it about Taylor Swift’s wedding that fills me with apathy, and perhaps a little anger?
Apathy, anger, and Madison Square Garden
If you’re not across all the details, Swift’s wedding to Travis Kelce is expected to take place at Madison Square Garden in New York City, with a variety of clues being left over the last couple of weeks confirming this, ranging from street closure permits for July 2-4 around the venue to various insider sources telling the likes of Us Weekly that the large guest list and security of the MSG inspired the venue.
Even New York City’s mayor Zohran Mamdani has been fielding questions about the wedding’s location, answering reporters with a skillful: “My recommendation to all New Yorkers is to stay inside and stay cool.”
If I’m getting tired of hearing about Taylor Swift’s wedding, I can’t imagine how Mamdani feels.
While opinions about the ceremony have centred on ‘why on earth would one of – if not, the – biggest celebrity in the world have her wedding at a sweaty hockey-basketball-concert stadium?’, my question is: why do we care so much, and is this distracting us from a bigger issue – that is, that we let celebrities get away with being ostentatious far too often?
The most recent update to the wedding ceremony between ‘America’s Royal Couple’ was their donation of US$26 million to a group of charities across the United States.
The $26 million preemptive strike
A representative for the couple told the Guardian that the 20 named charities included “City Harvest, New York City; Food Bank For NYC; New York Cares; Los Angeles Regional Food Bank; Harvesters – The Community Food Network, Kansas City, MO.”
While I have absolutely nothing against this donation, and am glad this contribution was made instead of nothing at all, the gesture – as expected – has received backlash and has been labelled as a pre-emptive response to complaints she may receive about boasting an enormous multi-million-dollar wedding in a cost-of-living crisis. Does Jeff Bezos renting out all of Venice ring any bells?
And honestly? Pre-empting this response was the right move, because I’m already a little annoyed by the luxury being rubbed in my face online. I can’t imagine actually living in New York and having my Fourth of July or work schedule derailed because a celebrity wants to rent out a New York monument.
Tasteful? Or tone deaf?
With my parents and little brother living in the city, I reached out to them and other oh-so-cool Manhattan friends I had to judge what the on-the-ground sentiment actually was…just in case I was being a tad dramatic.
Was I surprised to hear that my mum’s response – who, mind you, struggles to remember the names of the Netflix film she just turned on – was as brief as they “haven’t followed much”? No. But hey, it was worth a shot!
Turning to my more popular-culture-fluent friends in the city, the sentiment was one similar to my own.
“Of course Taylor Swift was going to have an enormous, ostentatious wedding…but it’s getting a little annoying.”
Going a little further than annoying, I’d err on the side of tone deaf – a critique I’ve already seen circulating comment sections and articles online.
No one expected an intimate ceremony from Swift and Kelce (although there is still a camp hoping they already got married in secret). They’re also not the first celebrities to spend an obscene amount of money in a location that ticked off the locals (hey, even Dua Lipa had to pay around £5,000 to residents of Palermo as compensation for her ceremony’s disruptions).
However, maybe instead of discussing what catering will feed the thousands of attendees, perhaps we need to praise celebrities a little less. I love champagne problems like the next girl (I hope you sense the irony in this reference), but maybe we can agree that a wedding of this scale deserves a couple of side-eyes and raised brows?
Or better yet, we can turn our heads to the rest of the world and look at the stark reality behind that $26 million gesture. The very charities Swift and Kelce are donating to only exist because of the massive wealth inequality that allows a couple to shut down a New York monument for a party.
Swift and Kelce’s wedding may make a few people hate them, and that’s a good thing.
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