Rob Gronkowski has answered one of the more unusual questions surrounding Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding, how guests qualified for the reception’s luxury raffle prizes.
The retired NFL tight end said attendees were not simply handed entries when they arrived at Madison Square Garden.
They had to participate in games during the July 3 celebration to earn raffle tickets, adding a competitive element to a reception attended by figures from sports, music and Hollywood.
Gronkowski joined the games because he hoped to win something for his longtime girlfriend, Camille Kostek.
Guests Had to Earn Their Raffle Tickets
“I did participate in the raffle,” Gronkowski told People. “I was trying to win something for my girl, Camille.” He said the reception included games that awarded raffle entries to the people who took part. “What was really cool was that you had to play the games in order to get the raffle tickets,” Gronkowski explained.
The four-time Super Bowl champion appreciated that guests had to become involved in the reception rather than receiving automatic chances to win. “You had to earn the raffle tickets, and that’s why I appreciate it,” he said. “It wasn’t no hand-me-outs. You had to earn the raffle tickets, and that’s what made it so much fun.”
Gronkowski Was Playing for Camille Kostek
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Gronkowski attended the wedding with Kostek, his partner of nearly 12 years. The former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers star had previously described the celebration as “top-notch” during an appearance on Tubi’s The Other Football.
He singled out the reception’s crowded dance floor as one of his favorite parts of the evening. “Hats off to Taylor and Trav,” Gronkowski said. “The dance floor, that’s the one thing, it was popping. It was popping.”
Gronkowski also recalled waiting in a procession of vehicles stretching several blocks outside Madison Square Garden before guests entered the venue. He said the celebrity-filled guest list left him briefly starstruck, although he declined to identify the people whose presence surprised him most. “When you meet someone that’s been your hero, that you’ve been watching, you’ve just gotta play it cool,” he said.
The Reported Prizes Included a Vintage Chevrolet
Earlier reports said the reception games allowed guests to earn entries for designer handbags, luxury watches and a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle. The car carried a connection to Swift and Kelce’s relationship. Kelce drove Swift away from the first Kansas City Chiefs game she attended in September 2023 in the same make and model.
The couple was already dating privately at the time, although the drive from Arrowhead Stadium became one of their first widely seen public moments together.
One Guest Showed Off Her $6,700 Chanel Prize
Jackie Tranquill, whose husband Drue plays with Kelce on the Chiefs, publicly revealed one of the raffle prizes after the wedding. She shared a since-deleted photograph of a black Chanel handbag beside a winning ticket displaying Swift and Kelce’s wedding logo.
The bag appeared to be a Chanel 25 Small Handbag made from grained calfskin with gold-tone hardware. Chanel listed the design at $6,700.
The Massive Wedding Still Felt Intimate to Gronkowski
Approximately 1,000 guests were invited to Swift and Kelce’s Madison Square Garden wedding, including Gronkowski’s former Patriots teammate Tom Brady. Gronkowski said he enjoyed moving between people from professional football and guests working in music, film and other industries.
“It was so cool to see it live, to be able to have a good time on the dance floor and to mingle with so many people in my industry, but also so many people in other industries,” he said.
Despite the guest count and the scale of the venue, Gronkowski said the newlyweds prevented the reception from feeling impersonal. “It was a magnificent wedding,” he said. “For how big it was, it was very intimate still.”