Downey mayor tying the knot

DOWNEY – Mayor Fernando Vasquez will be saying “I do” to his fiancé Donna Noushkam on Friday, May 23. The two will be joined by family and friends as they embark on this new chapter in their lives as husband and wife. Mayor Vasquez’s immediate family include his parents, Refugio and Maria Vasquez, and sisters Carmen and Stephanie. Donna’s family consists of her parents, Mohammad and Akram Noushkam, and sister Nikki.

Mayor Vasquez’s best man will be Mario Trujillo, a deputy district attorney, and Donna’s maid of honor will be her sister, Nikki, an engineer with Orbital.

The couple will have two wedding ceremonies, the first at OLPH in Downey where they will be married by Father Mark Warnstedt. A Persian ceremony will follow after that. There will be approximately 160 guests in attendance who will be flying in from all over the world, including Holland, Canada and Mexico. Among the invited guests are fellow Councilmembers Mario A. Guerra and Alex Saab.  Guests will enjoy Persian food at the reception, as well as entertainment from Mariachi Las Divas and Trio Los Brillantes.  The mayor and his bride will be traveling to Italy and Barcelona for their honeymoon.

Mayor Vasquez met his fiancé Donna in April 2009, during a political convention in Sacramento. The irony of this is that Donna had no interest in attending that convention – she is “not really into politics” and only went to the convention because her sister wanted Donna to take a few days off of work.  Mayor Vasquez, on the other hand, loves politics, but he too did not have any plans to go to that convention. He decided to fly to Sacramento last minute at the encouragement of a friend.

Donna and Mayor Vasquez were initially introduced to each other at a taco stand in the middle of Downtown Sacramento by Donna’s sister, Nikki. They hit it off instantly. As fate would have it, they ended up having lunch together that day and before they knew it “all of their friends at the convention were asking if they were a couple.” It didn’t take long for them to become “official”…two months after they met, Donna and Mayor Vasquez became an item.

Not only is Fernando Vasquez the mayor of the City of Downey, but is also a business owner. Donna is a partner at a large California law firm.

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Published: May 22, 2014 - Volume 13 - Issue 06