The Kansas City Chiefs’ disappointing season is beginning to fade into the rearview mirror as the NFL playoffs begin without them this weekend for the first time since the 2014 season. Instead of chasing a fourth Super Bowl ring, free agent tight end Travis Kelce will have to spend the next few weeks considering whether he wants to return for another season or retire from the NFL.
There is another ring on Kelce’s mind this offseason, too. After getting engaged to global music star Taylor Swift in August, the two are planning a wedding believed to take place this offseason, according to unconfirmed reports. Very little is known about Kelce and Swift’s wedding — other than Kelce’s assurance on his “New Heights” podcast in September that their wedding will “go crazy.”
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The guest list for the Kelce-Swift wedding has been subject to plenty of speculation online, but the couple’s close family and friends have not let anything slip. Jason Kelce, the older brother of the Chiefs’ star tight end, said he had “been given no details” about whether or not he would be the best man less than a month ago. Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes, one of the betting favorites to be in Kelce’s wedding party, has been silent on the topic.
Given the privacy of the wedding plans, it was particularly newsworthy on Friday when a feature by Vahe Gregorian of the Kansas City Star confirmed that Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire is “invited to the wedding” of Kelce and Swift.
The piece highlighted Kelce’s relationship with several of his teammates, including Edwards-Helaire, who was on the team for the Super Bowl titles following the 2022 and 2023 NFL seasons. After a year with the New Orleans Saints, he returned to the Chiefs’ practice squad this season, appearing in two games.
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Edwards-Helaire’s bond with Kelce was forged in his 2020 rookie season during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he said “camaraderie wasn’t a big thing.” Kelce helped him navigate struggles with PTSD and the two connected over their love of cars.
The type of trust in their relationship that would lead to a wedding invite for Edwards-Helaire and his wife, JoJo, was illustrated by a story from the Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade in February 2024. When gunshots were fired at the parade, Swift called to check in on Kelce, and Edwards-Helaire was there to pick up the phone and calm her nerves.
He recalled Swift’s decision later that year when Kelce was visiting her on the “Eras Tour” to charter a jet so that her then-boyfriend could get back to the United States for Clyde and JoJo’s wedding. The two couples’ bond remains unbreakable to this day.
It was an example of the types of things that go on in Kelce’s life behind the scenes that do not always make it to the public. Given his relationship with many more teammates during his 13 years in Kansas City, there is no telling who else might be on that wedding guest list.
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