A couple tied the knot at Taylor Swift's Eras Tour: 'More fun than a courthouse'

When René Hurtado got engaged in September 2021, she told her friends she wanted to elope with her fiancé, Max Bochman, while traveling for Taylor Swift's tour. It was then that one of her friends suggested that they marry at a Swift concert, and Hurtado was more than ready.

"I thought that was a good idea," Hurtado told TODAY. "I felt like, why not?" The tour dates had not been announced at the time of the conversation, but when tickets went on sale in November 2022, Hurtado was ready and grabbed front-row tickets.

On the opening night of Swift's Eras Tour in Glendale, Arizona, on March 17, the 30-year-old sat in the audience noting down the setlist. She waited patiently for the perfect song to get married to and was thrilled upon hearing the guitar opening of "Invisible String" from Swift's 2020 album "Folklore."

The song, which is about two people coming closer to each other their whole lives, was chosen as Hurtado's wedding song. She revealed that she had been "hooked" on Swift since listening to "Teardrops on My Guitar," from the singer's 2006 debut album and that she knew she wanted to incorporate the singer's music into her wedding in some way.

Her love for Swift stems not just from the music but also from the proximity of their ages. Hurtado feels they "grew up together, going from high school heartbreak to committed relationships."

Hurtado initially thought that her fiancé would be unwilling to have such an unconventional and highly public wedding, but much to her delight, he too came on board. Recalling how the conversation went, Hurtado shared that in December 2022, she approached Bochman with the new plan. "He immediately was like, 'No, let's do the Taylor Swift concert.' And I was like, 'Are you sure?'" she said.

He was. And so, on the second night of The Eras Tour, Hurtado and Bochman waited for their cue after Swift's costume change for "Invisible String." When the guitar started playing, Hurtado began walking down the makeshift aisle. "I died because I'm walking down the aisle to 'Invisible String' and it was just so perfect," she said.

Rene wore her wedding dress to the concert, which seemed unusual to a few security guards who asked her about it. Since most attendees wore elaborate Swift-inspired costumes, Hurtado said that her white wedding dress and veil hardly stood out.

When she walked down the aisle, many people nearby sat down so that Hurtado and Bochman could be the only ones standing. People watched and recorded all that was happening, and when they kissed, the audience cheered for the happy couple. Hurtado posted a clip from the concert on Tiktok, garnering 6.5 million views. However, this was just the prequel to a more official, private wedding ceremony for the newlyweds. 

"We're going to have our actual wedding next year in March. So obviously we're already legally married now but we are still going to move forward with our real wedding day," Hurtado explained. "We wanted to get married ahead of our wedding and we figured this would be a more fun way to do it than a courthouse."

After the celebrations, a stage team member asked if they were the couple that got married. When they said "yes," he handed them one of Swift's guitar picks. "Taylor hands out picks multiple times during the show after every guitar song, but it felt like a wedding gift for sure," said a grateful Hurtado.