Last Saturday, Left Bank Books closed its doors in the middle of the afternoon in order to host a wedding. Alexa King and David Hackett had their second date at the indie bookshop in St. Louis’ Central West End, and they thought it would be lovely to return to a place that had significance for them. Surprisingly, the shop said yes.

Owner Kris Kleindienst says Left Bank had previously hosted a wedding just once—after-hours on a Sunday, for people who worked there. “We have had several couples take engagement pictures in our bookstore during store hours, which is always so lovely,” she notes. “It speaks to how bookstores are important community spaces. I can’t remember anyone getting married in Target because they met in the housewares department.” So when Hackett and King shared their story, and what Left Bank meant to them, neither Kleindienst nor the shop’s general manager could find it in their heart to say no.

King and Hackett went all in on the bookstore theme: Each guest got a Left Bank Books gift card, with instructions to linger after the ceremony and buy something. Those needing recommendations got a little help: The shop created a display of “Alexa and David’s picks,” from Pride and Prejudice (hers) to Tenth of December (his). They set up the chuppah right in the middle of the sales floor. Says Kleindienst, “They expected very little—no fancy wedding decorations or major changes to the store—they just wanted to be in the energy of the store.”

That energy, King and Hackett say, was one of the things that brought them together. They met in 2019, not long after King moved here from Dallas to attend WashU’s Brown School. (A data scientist, Hackett was born and raised in St. Louis.) “I was on the apps, just kind of meeting different people, trying to get people to buy me dinner so I didn’t have to,” King recalls. “I wanted to find all the cool spots.” 

When she and Hackett first connected, she asked his favorite coffee shop, which led to a first date at MoKaBe’s. But it was the second date where sparks flew. After dinner at a Thai restaurant, they wandered into Left Bank and found minutes turning into an hour. “We took the whole store,” she says—bonding over their shared love of books and reading.

At one point, they found themselves with the used books in the basement. “And he was next to me, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God. Like, I really hope he makes a move now,’ because it’d be so romantic to have our first kiss in a bookstore,” King recalls, “but he didn’t pick up on it.” It wasn’t until the next stop, at Up-Down STL, that they kissed (although they joke they should tell people it was at the bookstore—so much more romantic than an arcade bar). 

Says King of that second date visit, “It was definitely one of those moments where I was like, ‘We’re both enjoying just pulling out books, looking at them, reading them, without having to make small talk.’ There’s not many people I felt like I could do that with.” 

Adds Hackett, “And now it’s an activity we do all the time.”

Even after they moved to Chicago and he proposed (at a bookstore, naturally), they continued to feel that Left Bank was their place—which made the idea of getting married there as natural as church would be for a different couple. “Local bookstores are so sacred,” says King.

While staging the ceremony in the children’s room used for visiting authors probably would have been simpler, they were thrilled that the store moved shelves to allow them to get married on the main sales floor. Instead of walking down an aisle, they walked up the stairwell from the basement, with King tripping a little bit (“I didn’t really foresee wearing a long wedding dress on the stairs, but it was fine,” she says). And then there they were, husband and wife, finally getting the kiss she’d longed for on their second date.

They couldn’t be happier about how it worked out. (Kleindienst too, though she notes they’ll have to be pretty careful about closing the shop during regular hours in the future.) Says Hackett, “I think it was really cool to do something different that was just very us and very meaningful. To have it in a place that was really meaningful to our relationship, and who we are as people, was amazing.” 

King adds, “I would hope that people, if they’re choosing to get married, have the same thing of finding something that is meaningful and not being afraid to try to make your dreams happen. That’s what I would take away from this. And also to go visit Left Bank Books, because they’re the best.”