In 2019, Readers' Books in Sonoma, Calif., cleared the store for the day and held a wedding ceremony for one of their staff. Rosie Lee (now Rosie Lee-Parks) asked owner Andy Weinberger to officiate. She had grown up in the bookstore and couldn't imagine any place else she'd rather be wed. Fast forward to the present: Andy's wife of many years, Lilla, had died suddenly not long after Rosie's wedding. In time he connected with Beth Hanson, who used to sell jewelry next door. She'd lost her husband 20 years earlier. One thing led to another, as they say, and they became friends. More than friends, actually, now in the autumn of their lives, the two decided to marry. "Do it in the bookstore," Rosie suggested. "Let me be the rabbi this go-round." And so they did.
(photos: left: Barbara Hall, right: Jude Sales)