We sat the dark room oddly lit with Christmas lights tucked away in the corner and spotlights on random pictures of Italian paraphernalia—Meatballs, soccer players running along the Spanish Steps, and the Pope. As the plates and plates of steaming food were placed in front of us, we talked, laughed, and swapped stories like we were veterans. Only, we’ve never been on the frontlines…just in front of brides and grooms.

A few weeks ago, I hosted Happy Hour on Blu Domain. Not only did I have a blast, it was awesome meeting other photographers and answer a few questions. In the midst of the crazy typing frenzy, I encouraged photographers to ask another photographer out to lunch if they had questions or just wanted to get to know that person better (I got this idea from [b]ecker…who’s pretty much an industry forefather of giving back). Well, shortly thereafter, I received quite a few emails from photographers inviting me to lunch…so cool! Because I wanted to keep the lunch small, I invited a few photographers (some of which had contacted me about going to lunch before Blu’s Happy Hour), to join me at Buca Di Beppo in Irvine this afternoon. We had a GREAT time together and I’m so stoked to have made new peers within the industry! I’m honored to be associated with such a stellar group of people, and I’m happy to call them friends!

Who’s Who (and their bloggity blogs)…
*Amy of AHS Photography
*David and April of Ohana Photography
*Katy of Katy Regnier Photography
*Kimberlee of Boucher Photography
*Marlene of Marlin Munoz Photography

Here's a group shot…

…And apparently only THREE of the seven of us know how to make silly faces!!! 😀

I want to send a special thanks to David for bringing EVERYONE a box of Godiva chocolates and awesome Suzy's Zoo star sticky notes…he's so wonderful! I had an awesome time and I also want to apologize if I spoke too much or too quickly…I'm working on it! 🙂 Thanks again and I can't wait to see what your futures hold for you!!!