Brad Paisley has defended Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding, saying that it was “one of the least pretentious” ceremonies he has “ever seen or ever will see”.

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The pop star and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end announced their engagement last August and tied the knot at a star-studded ceremony at New York’s Madison Square Garden earlier this month.

In the time since, a few details about the largely-private wedding have come to light, with New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani revealing that Swift and Kelce reportedly paid over $160,000 (£119,000) to get married at the iconic venue, and news emerging that performances at the ceremony came from Stevie Nicks and Paul McCartney.

Now, despite some backlash towards the extravagance of the wedding, country singer Brad Paisley has said what it was like to be one of the 1,000 guests in attendance, and described it as not being as ostentatious as people may presume.

“Ironically, it was one of the least pretentious weddings that I’ve ever seen or ever will see,” he told The Associated Press. “It meant a lot to be [invited]. It was a big thank you from her to invite us.”

Brad Paisley revealed that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding invitation told guests, “If you’re getting this, you mean a lot to us.”

He also described the celebration as “one of the least pretentious weddings” he’s ever attended, saying the invitation felt like “a big… pic.twitter.com/L6aLHtv89Q

— The Taylor Swift Daily (@TheTSDaily) July 18, 2026

Paisley attended with his wife Kimberly, and has known Swift for almost two decades now having invited her to be the opening act of his 2007 tour, back when she was a teenager.

“I took this personally when I got the invite, because in the invite, it said, ‘If you’re getting this, you mean a lot to us,’” the singer told AP, also adding that details about the wedding were kept under wraps until closer to the date.

“It was really fun to watch the cat-and-mouse game of, like, ‘We can tell you roughly where it’s going to be, we’re not gonna say what building… and here’s the date. If you’re in, we’ll tell you more,’” he shared. “I went to my wife, I said, ‘Want to go?’ and she said, ‘Absolutely, we gotta be there!’ So, we did it.”

The ceremony was officiated by Adam Sandler and NFL coach Andy Reid later revealed that the comedian and actor offered the couple some “touching” words of advice on the day.

According to Swift’s longtime publicist, Tree Paine, the couple did not have bridesmaids or groomsmen. Instead, Swift’s brother Austin served as her “Man of Honour” and Travis’ brother, fellow NFL star Jason Kelce, was the Best Man.

As well as Brad Paisley, other guests in attendance included Ed Sheeran, Selena Gomez, Jack Antonoff, Lena Dunham, Gigi Hadid, Bradley Cooper, Zoë Kravitz, Aaron Dessner, the Haim sisters, Sombr, Ellie Goulding, Camila Cabello, Machine Gun Kelly, the Chainsmokers, Lucy Dacus and Benson Boone.

Graham Norton, who appeared in Swift’s music video for ‘Opalite’, was invited as well, as were Marisa Hargitay from Law & Order: SVU, Dakota Johnson, Julianne Moore, Ethan Hawke, Hugh Grant, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, and Jessica Chastain.

Ahead of the wedding, it was reported that Swift and Kelce donated $26million (£19.5million) to 20 charities across the United States earlier that week.