Welcome to a New Year with, well, with a revised shared reality since this time last year, that’s for sure. COVID-19 has taught us that our realities can become shape-shifted in a blink of an eye. Attending three to five galas, in sumptuous ballrooms with a thousand or more attendees, across the state each week, used to be the norm for our team…and as 2021 begins, we look forward to all the gatherings and philanthropic largesse continuing like before, don’t you? Strong people lift each other up, and we are in this together.
One thing we know about a shared reality–whether it’s from reality TV–to pandemic-suspended reality, is that it’s very interpretive. One thing we know about a shared reality–whether it’s from reality TV–to pandemic-suspended reality, is that it’s very interpretive. However, a wedding is one shared reality that we can all agree upon. Since the beginning of time, families and friends have always gathered to share the reality of loved ones taking the next big step in their lives. That’s about as real as it gets in the love department. Since I was a child, I’ve attended countless weddings and believe me, since then I’ve always had a good suit appropriate for a wedding at the ready because I know how important weddings (and good suits) are.
Understandably, parents have been duly concerned about the deprivation of a shared reality that the pandemic has on their kids: the lack of school and overall community due to the current happenings. The best-shared reality fix for that? Attend a wedding, large or small, I say. Do children get to see adults operating in a genuine world arena, and with the best intentions at heart: love? Bien sûr. Of course.
That’s why we love and are beyond proud of, the weddings we are sharing in this special issue, especially in these challenging times. Beautiful brides, dashing grooms, and a flock of families and friends to celebrate them and their happy lives ahead? You bet. It doesn’t get much better than that. Plus, the ingenuity from all the weddings’ creative teams for each celebration seen on every page, from across the state, is exemplary. Let’s call it the best of Texas love, shall we? And after all, as Burt Bachrach and Hal David wrote musically, what the world needs now is love, sweet love.
Along with our New Year/New You focus, we hope you enjoy this issue as much as our editorial, design, and publishing teams did creating it. So, remember, as we charge into 2021, as John Wesley said, Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can. Cheers to a magnificent year ahead, and we look forward to gathering again with you soon.
XO Lance Avery Morgan,
Editor-In-Chief and Creative Director
Photography by Gregg Cestaro
