Music By Design

I had an awful experience with the photo booth rental. First, I want to say this company is overpriced for quality of the photographs and the customer service. Groupon offers deals for half the price this company charges and offers better quality resolution photos as well. Save your 1,000 dollars and treat your guest to something else. The whole experience was just not worth it.

My now-​husband and I feel very strongly that too many couples micromanage their wedding playlists. They request their favorite bar-​singing songs, tailgating songs, club songs, etc. and their DJs are stuck playing awkward songs that don’t fit the crowd/​atmosphere. We made a few «must-​play» requests, but we booked with Music by design because we are not DJ’s and we wanted an expert to take the lead. David explained that his job is to get people out of their chairs at the beginning of the night and keep the party going to the end. I was skeptical at first when we said he doesn’t start with slow songs for the older crowd, that he starts and ends with high energy. But I was wrong to be skeptical. He got everyone up at the beginning and they stayed up all night — and I mean everyone from our club-​loving cousins to our cute two steppin’ grandparents and neighbors. It was the best wedding reception we have ever been to and it was largely due to the DJ (admittedly, it was my wedding so I may be biased, but when you notice empty chairs and a full dance floor all night, how much more objective can you get?)

Tony from Music By Design made our wedding just what we had imagined. We were a little nervous at first when we got a call 3 weeks before our wedding saying that our DJ had moved away, but that they would set us up with another DJ. Nobody wants that phone call weeks before the wedding. We were especially nervous as we didn’t have a very specific playlist for our wedding, as we just wanted our DJ to feel out the crowd and keep everyone on the dance floor. Keep everyone on the dance floor is just what he did. Immediately following the son and mother dance, the dance floor was packed and Tony kept everyone on the floor all night! People were dancing, smiling and having the time of their life! This is exactly what you want to see at your wedding.
Tony was also very flexible and patient with us, as we waited until the last possible minute to have our ceremony inside.
Thank you so much, Tony! You made our wedding day everything we had imagined and hoped for!

Wow. Just wow. Jeff-​thanks for Being the best DJ ever!
I went with Jeff after personally witnessing his «no frills and no cheese» service at a friends wedding and I was absolutely satisfied with his performance!
Jeff called days before our event to verify details and chat further about my expectations. In discussing my original choice not to select a specific cake cutting song, Jeff recalled that my fiancé Mark and I enjoy the Avett brothers and he suggested to use their song January Wedding! I hadn’t even ever heard that song but way to go Jeff, it couldn’t have been more spot on!
We had a short must play list which was complimented by the most ideal selection of favorite music! The dance floor was abuzz ALL night!
Thank you SO much for keeping the party alive!!!
–Amy and Mark

I am a wedding photographer in Batavia, so I have worked with at least a hundred different DJs, probably more. I always recommend Dave and his crew for my clients. Their music is customized to each couple and they always keep the guests happy and dancing through the night. 5 stars, for sure. Always professional and always have the best atmosphere.

David, our DJ from Music by Design, made our wedding reception a huge success! We had a lot of different events going on during the dinner hour and David arranged times with the photographer and venue. My husband and I did not have to worry about a thing once at the reception– we were able to enjoy it and we sure did!
The planning process was also made very easy. When we met with David for the first time, it was great to know that he would be the one doing our wedding. Some other companies outsource and so you do not know what you are going to get until the week before the wedding. Music by Design has a website that allows you to pick songs for first dances, must play lists, etc… It makes planning easy and organized. We were in contact with David via phone, email and he even arranged to meet with us the week before the wedding to go over names & song choices. We had our wedding party walk into different songs, and David made that happen. All names were pronounced correctly.
The dance floor was packed the entire night. Everything went perfectly and it was because of the organizational skills and professionalism of David. I highly recommend Music by Design to anyone!

We used Music By Design for our wedding in downtown Chicago, and I would strongly recommend them as a preferred DJ vendor. Tony was our DJ and was very accommodating and easy to work with.
I really like Music By Design because out of the 4 – 5 different companies I met with, they were the only ones that would allow me to meet my DJ at the time of booking (not 6 weeks out like other companies). The DJs are also professional and not full of cheese (they also are up to date and don’t look like they walked out of the wedding singer and into your event). So far, they are true 5 star quality!
The reason I had to subtract a couple stars was because the acoustics for the speeches and toasts during dinner were terrible! I’m not exactly sure what the issue was, but it was really unfortunate. Our wedding was the first they had done at the Museum of Contemporary Art so I’m sure they’ll be better prepared next time for the challenges (really high ceilings and little insulation).
Once we started dancing, Tony was completely on top of it and kept everyone dancing all night long. He also helped to keep the event on our timeline (which we submitted online along with song requests prior to the event) which we couldn’t have done without him.

Jeff = Best DJ ever. Seriously.
We were a bit leery of using a DJ for typical obnoxious DJ behavior, but this place and this guy is different.
First off, the website is amazing, you make your «Must Play», «Play if Possible» and «Do Not Play» list on your own. If you are stuck they have lists of top songs for everything you are looking for — intros, cake cutting, specialty dances.
On top of that Jeff, is very willing to help you with whatever you need. We were going to blend two songs together for our first dance and he was more than willing to… but at the last minute we changed our mind… no problem for him.
We also were debating on whether or not to play a video of our wedding vows from a year earlier but the projection screen and equipment was very expensive for a two minute video. They were willing to negotiate a deal about that too.
He arrived at the banquet hall two hours before cocktail hour even began. And walked us through everything once we got there.
Honestly, without him, we would have been lost through the whole reception. He gave us a heads up of when the events were taking place and really calmed me down about it going smoothly, which it did thanks to him!
During dinner we had guests coming up to us asking for a soundtrack of the music — it was that good.
He kept people on the dance floor all night long and when a problem occurred, not his fault — someone accidently pulled out the power cord — Jeff had it under control and the music on again in no time!
He really kept our party alive and made it very memorable.

We used them for our wedding and they were great (Jeff was our DJ) — very easy to communicate with, always available, and the online planning tool was pretty easy to use. Recommended!

This is a local DJ service. I met with them out in Geneva about a week ago. They have an office downtown Chicago as well. Even though he got me in about 10 minutes late (and I had to be somewhere 20 minutes later) he gave me all of the info I needed and was very nice. He had a great personality which is what I look for in a DJ. I dont want cheese, or annoying people, to be my DJ — and he was not any of that. The prices seem reasonable. Thye show you the online music list which was great to see and the person you meet with is actually your DJ — which never happens! I want to see who I will be having at my wedding before I make my decision. Other companies will match you up AFTER you select their company and sign a contract — at that point, its too late. Worth taking a look!