Bernard O'Shea: Five things I learned about Taylor Swift’s engagement

Taylor Swift’s million-dollar ring may move markets, but in Ireland love is still measured in envelopes and gossip.

Travis Kelce with Taylor Swift. Picture: Jamie Squire/Getty Images

1. The ring could buy a few houses

When the news broke that Taylor Swift was engaged to Travis Kelce, I didn’t sigh romantically or think about love’s triumph. No. The first thing I did, like any middle-aged Irishman, was Google the cost of the ring. Estimates varied: $550,000 (€472,000), $650,000 (€558,000), maybe even $1m (€850,000), depending on which jeweller you asked. One brave soul suggested $5m (€4.29m), but even I, a man who once paid €22 for a sandwich in Dublin Airport, found that hard to believe. Let’s stick with $1m.

Meanwhile, in Ireland, the average spend on an engagement ring is €3,600. Three and a half grand. Which is still not nothing. That’s a week in Lanzarote for a family of four, or six months’ worth of petrol. I know this because I am one of the €3,600 men, and that was 15 years ago. Here’s the thing: The cost of a ring is pure marketing. In 1947, De Beers launched the slogan, ‘A diamond is for ever’ and invented the idea that men should spend two months’ salary on an engagement ring.

What matters isn’t the price, it’s the story. Taylor’s story involves rare diamonds, celebrity jewellers, and Architectural Digest spreads. Mine involved handing over my debit card and praying there was enough in the account.

2. The proposal arch vs The pub snug

Travis Kelce proposed in his Kansas City mansion garden, transformed for the night in to something between Versailles and a Disney wedding set. $38,000 (€32,000) worth of flowers and candles, arranged in to an archway of roses, lilies, and smilax vines. The pictures looked like a spread from Vogue. It was the kind of place where you wouldn’t be surprised if Céline Dion appeared from behind a hydrangea to sing My Heart Will Go On.

In Ireland, we’re not a Pinterest proposal kind of people. We’re a ‘buy her a chicken fillet roll afterwards’ people. And that’s fine. Because here’s the truth: The nerves are the same whether you’re in a Kansas City mansion or the back bar. Your hand still shakes. Your voice still cracks. You still pray she says yes. The arch might be €38,000 worth of flowers, or it might be two empty pint glasses making a lopsided arch on a sticky table. Either way, the moment sticks.

3. The wedding economy vs The envelope economy

Taylor and Travis’s wedding will almost certainly be a multimillion-dollar event. There will be designers, sponsorship deals, and probably a Netflix documentary. Newspapers will estimate costs in the tens of millions of dollars. Analysts will compare it to royal weddings. Someone will sell an NFT of her veil. In Ireland, weddings typically cost an average of €20,000 to €40,000. Still eye-watering, but funded by our secret weapon: The sacred brown envelope. The envelope is Ireland’s financial miracle. Every guest hands over €150–€200 in cash, stuffed into a little card. By the end of the night, you’ve covered half your costs. I’ve seen accountants less efficient than a well-run Irish wedding.

The debates over how much to give are intense. Beef main course? €200. Fish? €150. Plus ones? Add €100. If it’s your cousin, €250. If it’s your cousin you don’t like, €100 and a scratch card. The economics of it make Wall Street look lazy. This is how Irish weddings survive. Taylor Swift’s marriage may fuel global media empires. Ours fuel the parish economy. Her guests might include Beyoncé. Ours includes Uncle PJ, who will absolutely burst the arse of his pants while knee-sliding to AC/DC’s Thunderstruck and have to be brought to A&E the following morning.

4. The global vs The WhatsApp ripple

Taylor Swift’s engagement actually moved stock markets. The Kansas City Chiefs’ franchise value reportedly jumped by $331m (€284m) because of her relationship with Kelce. Betting markets paid out tens of thousands of dollars to people who correctly predicted the engagement. Newsrooms, gossip sites, and entire industries benefited from what I’m going to call their Insta-gagement (proposals or announcements perfectly choreographed for Instagram)

In Ireland, the ripple appears somewhat differently. You tell one friend you got engaged, and within 11 minutes your mother’s landline is ringing off the hook (the landline still used for ‘big news’). “Did you hear? About time, too.” The friend WhatsApp group is buzzing. Someone has guessed the wedding date.

We may not shift global share prices, but we do shift gossip. Irish engagement news is the Super Bowl of parish chatter. And it’s free. No betting markets required — just an auntie who can’t resist telling the whole cul-de-sac.

5. The real price of love

When you strip away the carats and the costs, what’s the real price of love? For Taylor and Travis, the €1m diamond is symbolic. It won’t change their fortunes. For most Irish couples, the €3,600 feels massive. However, neither figure accurately captures the real cost.

The real price of love is compromise. It’s patience. It’s pretending not to notice they ate the last purple Quality Street. It’s turning the dishwasher back on so you don’t have to empty it. It’s nodding through your partner’s story you’ve heard 47 times. It’s sitting beside each other on the couch, scrolling your phones in comfortable silence.

So, yes, Taylor Swift’s engagement has shown us the dizzying price of celebrity love. However, it has also reminded me that the current price of Irish love is much simpler: A ring; a snug; an envelope; a WhatsApp group; and a lifetime of small, ordinary, unglamorous acts that add up to something priceless.

And that’s the kind of investment even Taylor Swift would approve of.