Benjamin Ryan Cohen can easily recall how he met Lexi Brooke Tobin because it was on his 31st birthday, June 18, 2021.
Ms. Tobin was in Montauk, N.Y., for the bachelorette party of her older sister, Perri Tobin Schwartz. Mr. Cohen, then living in Delray Beach, Fla., was sharing a house with friends in nearby East Hampton for the month. One of his housemates, Jeremy Franco, a childhood friend of Ms. Tobin, thought it would be fun to celebrate Mr. Cohen’s birthday by crashing the party.
As it turned out, “my sister had known Ben for years,” through Mr. Franco, Ms. Tobin said. “She introduced us during her bachelorette party. He made a quick impression on me — he offered his sweatshirt when I was cold, and I felt an instant connection.”
Mr. Cohen, now 33, has a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Florida and a law degree from N.Y.U. He worked as a real estate lawyer after college, then started Outdoor Adventure Retreats, which provides campgrounds, recreational vehicle resorts and marinas. Ms. Tobin, 26, is a proposal planner and wedding influencer based in New York City. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Mr. Cohen’s trip was coming to a close, so the day after the bachelorette party, he took Ms. Tobin to dinner. “We ate outside on the water and our conversation was just so easy and fun,” Ms. Tobin said.
They recalled a tense moment when it started to rain. “It could’ve been a stressful moment that ruined the night, but we made it fun and just moved tables,” Mr. Cohen said. “It felt like we became a couple on our first date because we connected so fast.”
Soon after Mr. Cohen returned to Florida, he decided to visit New York City and spend a weekend with Ms. Tobin. The couple say they fell in love that weekend, at the William Vale hotel in Brooklyn.
“I was really nervous going into the weekend,” Ms. Tobin said. “But once we were together, all the nerves went away. He made me feel so comfortable.”
Mr. Cohen made the move to New York permanent in early 2022, and the couple rented an apartment in Manhattan’s West Village.
On March 2, 2023 they became engaged, though not before Ms. Tobin successfully solved a few clues.
Mr. Cohen had told her that he had a work trip that day that would require him to be away. He packed a suitcase and said he was headed to the airport, but instead, he checked into the William Vale hotel.
“I also received word of a really important work call that was scheduled for 4:30 p.m. that day,” Ms. Tobin said. (This was actually from someone Mr. Cohen had recruited to pretend to be a prospective client.)
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At 4:27 p.m., Mr. Cohen sent her a text, notifying her of a package at their front door. “I love you,” he texted with a smiley face emoji, right before Ms. Cohen opened a picture frame that read: “On this adventure that’s just begun, this treasure you seek is just one. Grab your bag for a one-night stay, you’re about to become a fiancée.”
“I like to leave Lexi little notes in her bag when she leaves for a trip, or in drawers when I have to go,” Mr. Cohen said. “I thought it would be fun and different to lead her to our favorite spots and back to the place where we had our first meaningful date.”
Shortly after, Ms. Tobin’s sister appeared at the apartment. Ms. Tobin quickly got ready, packed a bag, and downstairs a car was waiting to whisk them away. The frame was the first of seven scavenger-hunt clues that took Ms. Tobin through several of the couple’s favorite locales — the Lobby Bar at the New York Edition hotel and Westlight, a rooftop bar atop the William Vale.
The sixth clue led Ms. Tobin to a room at the hotel, where Mr. Cohen was waiting with the seventh and final clue — a letter that was fashioned after a letter he had written to Ms. Tobin on their first weekend together at the hotel.
“That note was what made me fall in love,” Ms. Tobin said. “It told me this was someone who shared my values and mind-set. It spoke to Ben’s character and what he was looking for.”
Video from the proposal was later posted on Ms. Tobin’s TikTok and Instagram accounts and has received millions of views — and even inspired some of Ms. Tobin’s clients to request the “Ben” scavenger hunt proposal.
The couple married a year later, on March 2, at the Liberty Warehouse in Brooklyn in front of 225 guests. The wedding was officiated by Ms. Tobin’s uncle, Erik Powers, who was previously ordained by the Universal Life Church.
He also officiated at the wedding of Ms. Tobin’s sister almost two years ago.
