Owen Huelsbeck remembers meeting Alexa Yarnell at Casey’s Irish Pub in downtown Los Angeles during their first week at Loyola Law School in 2019. Immediately after that first encounter, Owen excitedly texted a mutual friend about Alexa. She, however, was less enamored. “I was so caught up in the excitement of having just moved back to Los Angeles from New York and starting law school that I wasn’t particularly focused on meeting anyone,” Alexa admits.
As the semester went on, every morning, instead of doing his homework, Owen would sit outside and do the New York Times crossword with a mutual friend. “Sometimes I would stop by to say hi to my friend and help solve whatever part of the puzzle they were stumped by,” Alexa remembers. “They were in the evening section [at school], and I was in the morning section, so our paths would cross for a few brief minutes as I left campus for the day and they started their classes. They knew I loved Broadway musicals, and you would be surprised how often those are featured in the crossword!”
The two became acquaintances during those in-between moments—but didn’t really connect until Alexa applied to be on the board of the Criminal Law Society, where Owen already held a position. “After reading my application, Owenreached out to congratulate me on my role and acknowledge my application,” Alexa explains. The congratulatory text led to long conversations about their passions—his for criminal justice reform, and hers for healthcare reform.
Both of their schools had transitioned to remote schedules due to the pandemic, but Alexa and Owen decided to get together in real life. Owen, who was back home in Tacoma, WA, at the time, drove 18 hours back to L.A. so that they could meet for their first date, and from then o,n they formed a pod. “Owen had the foresight to save the wine bottle from that very day, which became the glass he stepped on once we were married,” Alexa says. “You could say he had a feeling as to where this might be headed.”
In March of 2023, Owen proposed to Alexa on the beach at Three Arch Bay in Laguna, a “special place” for the couple, as it was where they studied for the California Bar together. “He created a scavenger hunt,” Alexa recalls. She knew the engagement was coming and already had a ring to propose to Owen with, because she wanted him to also have a physical reminder of the commitment they’d made. “Owen now stacks both of his rings just like I do,” Alexa explains. “And we have even inspired some of our friends to do the same. It was just the beginning of our wedding journey, being a little bit different and unique to us.”
Two-and-a-half years after their engagement, in the fall of 2025, Alexa and Owen’s wedding weekend in Montecito kicked off with a welcome dinner at Bettina’s, followed by a s’mores and charcuterie campfire party. “In the spirit of how we met, Alexa and I made a crossword puzzle that connected our guests via shared experiences, passions, and fun facts,” Owen explains. “We envisioned a big love fest for our wedding weekend, and it wasn’t more than five hours in when we had to remind folks that it was okay to go to bed as we would get to see each other again in the morning.”