Matthew James Quinn and Kevin Blair Carnahan welcomed a large group of friends and family into their Italianate-style house in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood on a sunny spring day in March. Guests were greeted by a drag queen, as champagne flowed and bubbles floated above them from a steampunk-inspired bubble machine.
The celebration, equal parts elegant and eccentric, was a reflection of both their love story and the home they had so carefully designed and curated together.
Almost two years before, Carnahan, who goes by Blair, had spotted the home’s listing online — the price had been reduced and was within their budget — and after sharing his excitement with Quinn, they bought it, intending to renovate.
“I love real estate porn, so I am always looking at houses,” Carnahan said.
“I was so excited to see it,” Quinn said. “It’s an Italianate classical house, very traditional, even too traditional for Blair. I wanted to make it more edgy.”
It would be the second time in recent years that the house had undergone renovations. Quinn, who runs an interior design company, was actually hired by the previous owners in 2013.
But because Quinn and Carnahan had different styles, they hired a designer friend to help marry their aesthetics.
“I knew that I would be opinionated — it’s what I do all day long,” Quinn said, adding that the renovations went smoothly. “We had zero issues,” he said. “There was plenty of give and take.”
“It now has a beautiful, very provocative interior,” Carnahan said.
The evolution of their relationship went smoothly, too. It all started at a party in early May 2023 with friends of Quinn and Carnahan looking to set them up. Quinn’s friends had sent him photos of two men they thought he might be interested in.
“I picked Blair,” Quinn said. “It was all looks.”
The two met for what was supposed to be a quick drink after work on May 17, 2023. Quinn, who was apprehensive about the meeting, said he only had 15 minutes for the meet-up at the rooftop bar of Grana, an Italian restaurant in Atlanta.
Soon, though, the casual conversation lingered far beyond 15 minutes and turned into Quinn pulling out a list of relationship requirements, which he said covered everything from family and careers to hobbies and politics.
Carnahan shared a list of his own, “which notably included foot hygiene and cars,” Quinn added.
“I appreciated the seriousness he put into the meeting,” Carnahan, who was divorced in 2014 and has two children, Liza, now 21, and Ben, 22. “That was something that impressed me. This guy means business.” Quinn, also previously married, was divorced in 2022.
Two hours into their first date, both realized a second was in order. But it would have to wait until Carnahan returned from a trip to Paris with his family. He left the next day and was gone for 10 days.
“I was trying to play it cool,” Carnahan said. “But we texted every other day.” While he was away, Quinn gave him a challenge — plan a Paris-inspired date upon his return.
Over Memorial Day weekend 2023, Carnahan delivered with a picnic in Atlanta’s Winn Park, complete with a five-inch-tall gold Eiffel Tower, French wine, a baguette, and some cheese and chocolate.
Quinn said he was “overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness.”
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Their third date, just a few days later, was dinner at Quinn’s home in early June. About a month late, “Matthew was trying to make up for lost time,” Carnahan said. “He took his outer shirt off and underneath was another shirt that said, ‘Will you be my boyfriend?’” Carnahan said yes.
In January 2024, Carnahan moved from his townhouse on the Upper West Side of Atlanta to Quinn’s penthouse in Midtown Atlanta. The two got engaged that November. Carnahan had asked Quinn to join him on a work trip to Dana Point, Calif., which happened to fall on Quinn’s 54th birthday.
Just six months before the trip, Quinn said he had the strangest dream. The two were on the beach and Carnahan handed him a paper bag with an octopus tentacle and a ring inside.
On Quinn’s birthday, while the two were sitting at Monarch Bay Beach Club, Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort and Spa’s restaurant on the beach, Carnahan excused himself to use the restroom and had the maître d’ deliver a paper bag to Quinn with a toy octopus tentacle and a faux diamond ring inside.
Carnahan quickly reappeared and got down on one knee.
Quinn, 55, is the owner of Design Galleria Kitchen and Bath Studio, an interior designer, and author of three coffee table books. He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Florida and a bachelor’s degree in interior design from American Intercontinental University. Quinn was born and raised in Key West, Fla.
Carnahan, also 55, is a founder of Red Stick Advisors, where he is a private wealth manager. He has a bachelor’s degree in quantitative business analysis with a computer science option from Louisiana State University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He was born and raised in Baton Rouge, La.
The two were wed on March 21 at Winn Park, the site of their “picnic in Paris” first date, by their mutual friend Anne Puricelli, who was previously ordained by the Universal Life Church, before a small group of family members and close friends.
“I had a big first wedding, so I wanted something a lot more intimate,” Carnahan said. “It wasn’t going to be a church wedding. We didn’t want it to be at some hotel. So, the park was a wonderful choice. It offered that intimacy. And it gave us a reason to limit the guest list.”
The larger reception followed at the couple’s Atlanta home.
“Matthew had the contractors come back and retouch everything,” before the celebration, Carnahan said. And the day before the wedding, he added, “We had movers come and move all of our furniture out of our salon and have it moved to a U-Haul.”
Brian Worley, the owner and creative director of B. Worley Productions, and a former boyfriend of Carnahan, designed and executed the festive celebration. “Brian is a very sensitive person and we are all very good friends,” Carnahan said. “All of our friends were part of this. A D.J. was a friend. The caterer was also someone I knew since dating Brian. We are big on supporting our community.”
The two landed on a bubbles theme early on through Worley’s visions. “The front of our house was made into a bubble factory with a steampunk-inspired bubble machine designed and constructed through Brian’s company,” Carnahan said. “We hired a shirtless “cranker” via an old friend. And everyone was greeted at the door by Parton Waters,” a drag queen.
The food was inspired by the couple’s Louisiana and Florida origins. Thousands of balloons were used, some as part of brightly colored sculptural balloon and flower arrangements. And, the pool was covered with an acrylic dance floor, which was packed all night.
“It was perfect,” the newlyweds both said.
On This Day
When March 21, 2026
Where Winn Park, Atlanta, followed by a reception at the couple’s Atlanta house.
Double Booked Minutes before they were to leave for the ceremony in the park, “We got a call from our videographer that there was another wedding going on there,” Quinn said. Luckily, they finished shortly after Quinn and Carnahan had planned to begin their ceremony.
Like Magic After the reception, Worley’s staff returned everything to nearly normal again, furniture and all. “We left two strands of balloons and we left the dance floor,” Carnahan said. Otherwise, “every accessory was put back in place,” Quinn said, adding that out-of-town guests “could see how we really live when they arrived at the brunch on Sunday morning.”
A Taste of their Roots The Louisiana- and Key West-inspired menu included fried green tomatoes stuffed with pimento cheese and jalapeño marmalade; pickled okra with cream cheese wrapped in ham; housemade pork rinds; seared wahoo fish with Ponchartrain sauce; lump crab and corn fritters; slow-braised Coca-Cola short ribs; and shrimp and tasso henican.
The evening’s desserts included chocolate, lemon, and caramel doberge squares; praline and cream cheese king cakes; and doberge cake, all from Gambinos. They also served Key lime pie bites from Kermit’s in Key West, along with Key Lime coolers.
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