Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce
Taylor Swift/Instagram

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are allegedly facing 'major drama' over their fast-approaching New York wedding on 3 July, with the singer said to be 'trying not to get bogged down' by pressure for the ceremony to be perfect after leaks allegedly forced a venue change and prompted tough calls on guests including Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, according to Star Magazine.

For context, Swift, 36, spoke breezily about wedding planning back in October on The Graham Norton Show, shortly after getting engaged to Kelce. She told the BBC host she was 'so excited' to plan the big day and dismissed the idea of agonising over a tight guest list, joking that only small weddings are truly stressful because they force you to scrutinise every relationship. 'I'm not gonna do that,' she said then, smiling.

The reality, it seems, has reportedly proved more complicated.

Taylor Swift 'Trying Not To Get Bogged Down' As Plans Shift

The news came after Swift and Kelce, also 36, reportedly had to rip up part of their original plan. A source claims the pair, who have been together for nearly three years, initially intended a blowout celebration at the Ocean House resort near Swift's £17 million summer home in Rhode Island.

That plan is said to have collapsed amid leaks about the event, fuelling security fears and leaving the couple feeling 'exposed and disheartened.' 'They've had to change venues and dates,' the source says, calling the process 'a monstrous headache.'

Nothing is confirmed yet so everything should be taken with a grain of salt.

What appears less in doubt is the scale of interest surrounding the wedding. Swift is one of the most scrutinised celebrities on the planet, Kelce is an NFL star with his own fanbase, and together they are planning a ceremony that was always going to attract global attention.

According to the source, the wedding has now been scaled down into a more private affair, with Swift suddenly doing the very thing she once vowed to avoid: carefully picking and choosing who makes the cut. Some invitees have reportedly been told they cannot bring a plus-one, prompting grumbling from those who do not fancy turning up solo.

Meanwhile, others who once seemed like fixtures in Swift's famous circle are, allegedly, no longer guaranteed a seat at the table.

Blake Lively Rift And Wedding Guest List Pressure

One of the most eye-catching claims involves Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. The couple have long been associated with Swift's tight-knit 'squad,' their children's names even appearing in her lyrics, but Star's source says they now fall into the category of friends who may be on the outs.

It can be recalled that Lively's recent legal battle with director Justin Baldoni pulled Swift uncomfortably into the spotlight. Text messages between the two women, filed in court and made public, appeared to show Swift calling Baldoni 'a bitch' and acknowledging a strain in her friendship with Lively, 38. The source suggests 'all that messy business with Justin took a toll', adding that the odds of a wedding invitation for Lively are 'slim to none.'

Again, those details have not been independently verified. Nothing is confirmed yet so everything should be taken with a grain of salt.

The reported shake-up does not end there. TMZ has previously said that Swift and actor Keleigh Sperry, 33, wife of Top Gun: Maverick star Miles Teller, have grown apart as their lifestyles diverged. Star's source says Swift has found it 'hard' to leave off certain names, a line that will ring familiar to anyone who has tried to compress an entire life's worth of friendships into a seating chart.

Not everyone who drifted away appears to be frozen out, though.

The long-mythologised friendship between Swift and model Karlie Kloss has been the subject of a thousand fan theories. The pair met at the 2013 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, shared a Vogue cover and red carpet moments, and Kloss featured in the Bad Blood music video. By 2017, the friendship had cooled. Reports later suggested Swift felt used, and Kloss' association with music manager Scooter Braun, who bought Swift's former label Big Machine and the masters of her early albums, was widely painted as the last straw.

Scooter turned up at Kloss' 2018 wedding to Joshua Kushner. Swift did not. Braun has since tried to downplay his role in the saga, recently saying he 'never really knew' Swift, but their history remains raw for many fans.

According to Star, however, their relationship was more of a drift than a dramatic bust-up, and TMZ has reported that Kloss has in fact received an invitation to the wedding. The source describes the pair as being on 'cordial terms'.

Lockdowns, NDAs And A Very Expensive Secret

For starters, the new venue, décor and Swift's wedding dress are all said to have been locked down under tight secrecy. The source claims guests have been asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, with information released strictly on a 'need-to-know' basis in order to protect privacy and prevent further leaks.

'It's a shame security has become such a big deal,' the insider adds. 'But it is what it is, and Travis and Taylor are grateful they can cover the expense.' Put bluntly, the couple can afford the kind of security detail most people only see in films, and they appear prepared to use it.

Kelce, for his part, has publicly focused on the excitement rather than the stress. On the 6 May episode of his New Heights podcast, the American footballer spoke about the upcoming wedding and grinned: 'I can't wait.'

Behind the scenes, the source insists, Swift is doing her best to stay focused on why she is there in the first place. She may be 'trying not to get bogged down' by the pressure for the wedding to be perfect, but there is no getting around the fact that this is Taylor Swift. Even her attempt at a low-key celebration is going to be anything but quiet.

IBTimes UK has reached out to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's reps for comments.

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