Tying the knot
Yarmouth couple exchanges wedding vows at Tim Hortons
Tim Hortons serves up the perfect wedding venue as Yarmouth couple returns to the site of their first date to exchange vows.
What started out as a single-single at a Tim Hortons in Yarmouth on Saturday didn’t finish that way.
Local residents Meranda Tinkham and Tom Robicheau got married at the Tim Hortons location near Water Street.
Why Tim Hortons?
Why not, said the couple.
It was here that they had their first date and Meranda works here as a baker. The couple also spends a lot of evenings hanging out with the coffee crowd here.
In case you’re wondering, however, the wedding proposal did not take place here with the ring stuck inside a Timbit.
Still, Meranda decided this would be the ideal wedding venue.
“At first I was just joking around and said let’s do it, let’s get married at Tim Hortons,” she said. “And then we decided to do it. We picked a date.”
Many would say it doesn’t get more Canadian than getting married at a Tim Hortons. The owner and staff were both happy and obliging.
“I think it’s great,” said Mike Cook, the new owner of the Tim Hortons locations in Yarmouth. “Tim’s is a great symbol. People love Tim’s, and for them to spend their special day with us, we’re overjoyed.”
Former owner Dave Arenburg also attended the ceremony.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “A wedding is always nice and it’s especially nice because she’s an employee.”
The couple deliberately planned for a low-key, casual wedding. While friends and family gathered, it was still business as usual at the Tim Hortons as the wedding took place. As the couple exchanged vows people still lined up to purchase their coffees, lattes and honey crullers.
Some people having been here earlier in the day and hearing about the wedding decided to come back to watch.
One customer, not knowing a wedding was going to be happening, asked some of the people who were waiting for the ceremony to begin: “Is this where the line is?”
Ummm, not unless you’re planning on getting married too.
She was pointed to another line off to the side.
The couple’s first date at Tim Hortons was almost two years ago.
“I was the medium triple-triple, as usual, and she was the tea,” said Tom, showing once again that opposites do attract – well, at least on the menu. Otherwise the newlyweds say they are completely compatable.
“My daughter says Meranda is the female version of me,” the groom said.
Meranda started working at the Tim Hortons seven months ago, where she works the 3 a.m. to noon shift. The evening before the wedding the couple admitted getting married at a Tim Hortons is unusual. And they expected to get a lot of stares and attention.
“They’ll be walking in and saying, ‘What is this? What are they doing?’” Tom said, admitting the idea even took him by surprise. “We were just going to stay engaged for awhile and then she said, ‘I want to get married . . . at Tim Hortons,’ I was like, ‘Okaaayyy…’”
After the wedding the couple drove off in an antique Mustang with a ‘Just Married’ sign in the window and some Tim Hortons coffee cups dangling from the back.