diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ requirements = [
     "Beaker >= 1.10.1, < 2",
     "WebHelpers2 >= 2.0, < 2.1",
     "FormEncode >= 1.3.1, < 1.4",
-    "SQLAlchemy >= 1.1, < 1.4",
+    "SQLAlchemy >= 1.2.9, < 1.4",
     "Mako >= 0.9.1, < 1.1",
     "Pygments >= 2.2.0, < 2.5",
     "Whoosh >= 2.7.1, < 2.8",