Newly engaged couple share their love story, pre-wedding photos

Andrea Nicole Nixon, 29, a corporate attorney will be tying the knot with George Stephen Wilson II, 29, a business school student come September 4, 2015.

The couple shared their inspiring love story with Essence magazine, as well as their fun pre-wedding photos.

Read their interview below:

George and I knew of each other while attending Cornell University but our paths never meaningfully crossed until about five years after graduation at a birthday party for a fellow Cornellian. I told George that I’d called him earlier that night to ask about a pre-party at his place. He assured me that I hadn’t called him and then took my phone to double check. It turns out that I’d called George Williamson, his classmate, instead of George Wilson. He then called himself from my phone so that I 'wouldn’t have trouble reaching him again.' Pretty smooth, huh?

I was ready to be serious but I had one very important criteria: I didn’t want to date anyone whom I thought I had to change.

George was inarguably handsome and being around him was effortless. I was attracted to his ambition, his strong-will and his steadfast nature. He was, and is, dependable and he is the only guy I’ve ever dated who works harder than me.

Not at all! We were an instant item. We met on a Saturday and spent every day together until I returned to law school the following Friday. Two weeks later, he’d traveled eight hours to see me in Williamsburg, Virginia. There were never any qualms about how serious this was.

Before George, I had long-term relationships, but I didn’t actually know what it meant to date seriously and invest myself in someone.

He had dispelled all hopes of an impending engagement by telling everyone that asked he was in school and couldn’t afford an engagement yet. I believed that, so I was definitely not expecting us to get engaged the summer before his second year of business school.

He got down on one knee in front of the waterfall at Lincoln Center with his best friend (and best man) snapping secret photos the entire time.