Rehearsal for Heaven: 2009

From Teresa Torres
Date: Thur, 26 Feb 2009
Hello Everyone,

It's official! Debbie and Donn got married today! Feb. 26 at 5 P.M. at the Dunn residence here in La Sierra. It was a very small, simple, short but elegant wedding. And preparation time..3 days! Only immediate family members were present, so there were Debbie's parents, Kathleen and Bob, her brother Clark and wife Lena, and their 2 kids, Nicolas and Laila. From our side, there was Romie and me, Val, Andrea and Sydney. All the men wore Barong, even 5 yr old Nicolas, and of course, the black pants.

Torres and Dunn families

Debbie had a beautiful gown with a black bolero and looked so elegant and went so well with what the guys were wearing. The rest of the women wore black with different colored pashmina, top or jacket. Val and Andrea will send e-pictures because I don't know how to do that. I'll go to Costco tomorrow and have some pictures printed.

Bob and Kathleen have a very beautiful home. The ceremony took place in the formal dining area with a view of the fountain in the patio and greenery of the garden against the open space and background of the mountains and hills of Riverside.The guys marched out from the kitchen while Debbie came out of the master bedroom, with music playing from a CD put together by Val and Donn.

The 2 "best brothers" stood by their side and Sydney and Laila walked out with Debbie with their flower basket.(Sydney decided to sit on the floor for a short time) Sydney wore a long light blue dress with a pretty pair of white shoes. Laila's dress was light yellow and she also had a lovely white pair of shoes. Debbie's bouquet was white and lilac roses. Nicolas was the ring bearer and even handed the right rings to the bride and groom.

Sam Lenor officiated (one of the pastors in La Sierra- I think he's the university campus chaplain.) When the couple was pronounced husband and wife and kissed, the Hallelujah music came on with everyone applauding! After the ceremony, we took a lot of pictures, then went to Mission Inn for dinner. There was dessert with dinner but I brought mango and ube cake and mango and ube ice cream which we all enjoyed.

We are so happy that the wedding finally happened. I'm sure, no one is happier than Debbie and Donn. This wedding has been planned 2 other previous times but didn't happen since it was so difficult for Debbie to get away from her job. So we all just accepted that it will happen when it happens. As Andrea said, "I'll believe it when I see it". So, now, it has happened and we'd like everyone to join us in wishing them well. Hopefully, next time they'll be able to know and tell us ahead of time when they can come home so we can plan a reception.

Debbie is flying back to Switzerland on Saturday. Donn will leave March 4 but to England first for a band tour,then go on to Geneva.

Okay folks, please welcome Debbie to our family!

Love you all,

Tita