All success stories start with a dream, and the Beautiful Illusions Group is a perfect example of that.  On the first of July 2009, sisters-in-law, Stephanie and Jodie Thrower, embarked on a journey to style weddings and events that would keep guests talking long after the celebrations were over.

They have come a long way since styling their first wedding at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron in December 2009. Back then, the duo ran their business from home and slowly collected quality goods to create stunning styling packages.

By 2012, the style choices they were able to offer their clients had grown so much they moved Beautiful Illusions to a warehouse on Steel Street in Capalaba. Through consultations with their customers, Beautiful Illusions became well-known for their attention to detail and their first-class customer service.

Meeting the demands and desires of their clients meant Stephanie and Jodie were able to provide an even broader range of styling options. In 2016, they outgrew the Steel Street warehouse and moved around the corner to their current residence at 11/178 Redland Bay Road, Capalaba.

Stephanie and Jodie reflect fondly on the ten years they’ve been successful business owners, ‘Starting a business with nothing but a couple of vases and some chair covers and sashes, and turning it into what it is today, is a great achievement. Having a busy warehouse with dedicated staff, working closely with wonderful venues and being part of hundreds of weddings and events is pretty amazing.’

Over the years Beautiful Illusions have also been finalists in numerous Australian Bridal Industry Academy State Awards and Designer of Dreams National Awards for wedding styling and hire. They have been recognized by the Australian Enterprise Awards winning “Best Wedding & Event Stylists” for South East Queensland in both 2020 and 2021.

In August 2019, the specialist team are celebrated a decade of making their client’s dreams come true and are expanding their Beautiful Illusions Group with the purchase of Freeman’s Party Hire.

Freeman’s Party Hire has been a trusted family household name for over fifty years, and Stephanie and Jodie are excited about extending not only the Beautiful Illusions Group but also their clientele. With more wedding, party, and event hire choices, the Beautiful Illusions Group is a one-stop-shop for customers to meet their event hire needs.

The focus of the Beautiful Illusions Group has always been to bring affordable style and elegance to any celebration. Together, Stephanie and Jodie Thrower have shown what is possible when two people come together and share the same vision. Their success story shows that with dedication, great teamwork, and of course, a good dusting of creativity, dreams really do come true.

When your close friend comes to you and asks you to be her maid of honour, she is expressing to you how important you are to her life. It may be that you have been friends since childhood or perhaps you have met later in life however the role is an honour and also a great responsibility. They have not only chosen to marry the one they love but to ask you to stand by their side and to lean on you during the process leading up to the big day.

The maid of honour is there to help the bride. This may be through making phone calls, holding her hand while she cries and stresses or burning your finger tips while pushing down the hot glue on the invitations (telling you from experience). Yes, there will be times during the process you may regret saying yes, however in the end it will all be worth it and in the speech you make on the big day you will draw from your friendship to express how you feel about the bride and the man she is going to marry.

The maid of honour speech should be heartfelt, funny and deep. The guests of the wedding should leave feeling that they know why you were chosen for this special role. Think about adding a few stories about the bride that help people understand her character. Don’t tell stories that may be embarrassing for her but stories that may make her laugh (or cry). It is important that what you do share is interesting and well told. A great speech will perhaps tell a few that show her fun and cheeky side but then move on to show the serious side of her as well.

So we send you off on your way with the following words – be great, have fun and the wedding day will finally come so there is a light at the end of the tunnel – hang in there!

Welcome to our very first blog to celebrate the launch of our new website!  We thought that we might start by sharing our candy buffet tips and some photos on our candy buffets/lolly buffets since they are the latest craze to be hitting the events circuit!

Lately we have had so many enquiries about our candy buffets because people are realising that if you give the guests some sugar everyone will leave happy.   Beautiful Illusions candy buffets will never leave you disappointed.  Each buffet is styled perfectly to your event and we offer free personalisation.  This means that each little cello bag can have your name on it at no extra charge!  We also find it fun designing the labels and the theme to match your event perfectly.

For those who love DIY we thought we might add some tips if you are doing your own candy buffet.  We offer DIY packs if this can help with candy jars and scoops…

Use vases of all different heights and it is sometimes fun to use buckets and other coloured containers or plates.

Try to get a mixture of wrapped and unwrapped candy as it makes it a little more fun.

If you are using smaller quanities of candy then try to bulk the bottom up using some coloured wrapping or tissue paper as this will create the illusion that there is more.

 Don’t use big containers or bags as the guests only need to sample, not to stock up for a week.

Make labels that match your theme and colours as this will add the attention to detail.

If you don’t want to have to do any of this… call us and we will do it all for you!

If you would like to see a few more photos from us then head over to our facebook page for some more!