Expect communication from your DJ? Don't choose Memory Makers Entertainment! We booked Memory Makers fifteen months prior to our wedding and thought we would be able to check one task off the list, but booking Memory Makers led to more headaches than any other aspect of our wedding. We had a minor issue with the check when we paid for the DJ immediately after booking. We began trying to connect with Dave Woll, Memory Maker's owner, in April of 2018 to verify everything had been straightened out with the check. We tried calling, emailing, and sending messages to Memory Maker's Facebook page, but didn't get a response until November of 2018 when we finally sent a message to Dave's personal Facebook account. Dave's four word response to our months-long attempts to get in touch with him left us with little assurance that we'd have a DJ the night of our wedding. Approximately three weeks before our wedding, we provided our DJ (Andres) with our song list and once again got silence in return. After reaching out to Andres and Dave several times, we had to resort to our wedding venue's event coordinator to help us get a response from Memory Makers. Dave emailed us THREE DAYS prior to our wedding that DJ Andres was no longer available. As you can imagine, we were left in a panic not only because of this new but our calls to Dave that night went unanswered. When we finally got a call back, Dave tried to "fix" the situation by having a DJ at our Saturday wedding (our wedding was actually on a Friday). After so many headaches, lack of communication, lack of professionalism we decided to go with another DJ company. Save yourself the stress of having to worry about whether you'll have a DJ on your important occasion. Do NOT book Memory Makers Entertainment for your Chicagoland event. read more

My husband and I LOVE Memory Makers DJ Service!!!! We loved having the opportunity to attend a DJ Showcase and handpick our DJ! What an awesome experience! We chose Greg as our DJ and although he had to make a hefty commute to Countryside,IL on a Friday when traffic is brutal, he never once complained or seemed unhappy. He was super friendly and definitely a crowd pleaser. Finding out that he was a White Sox fan was also hilarious since our wedding cake was in the shape of Wrigley Field and we even had a Wrigley Field Scoreboard for our seating chart LOL. He also played the Go Cubs Go song for us. What a nice guy! We had a fantastic wedding and we are so grateful to Greg for being a big part of that success. We also used the photobooth with Memory Makers and loved it! We have a guest book filled with pictures and personalized notes from our guests that we will get to look back at and keep forever. My experience with Dave the owner was a great one as he was very efficient on the timeline that was needed to make the wedding a success. My husband and I truly love these GUYS and promise you will not be disappointed! read more

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Absolutely horrible. So much stress trying to get the owner to even call me back about our wedding which was less than a month away. Up until the WEEK before our wedding, he was unable to remember to have the DJ contact us about the type of music we wanted played. Mind you, we were married in July 2011 and PAID FOR OUR DJ in January 2011. Since we paid in full in January, we were promised a free "name in lights" upgrade. The Name in Lights was not at our wedding. The owner told me the week before he would "work it out" but since he contacted us so late about it, he was under the gun to order it in time. Nothing was said to us about it, we just noticed that the service we were promised was not at the reception. Dave, the owner, will try to sweet talk you into being lenient, but he doesn't get anything done. Absolutely never recommending them! For the record, our DJ Andre was great - dealing with Dave was NOT WORTH IT. read more

Love love LOVE!!! We hired DJ Nine One Juan (hope I wrote it right) this past weekend for our wedding at the Concorde in Kildeer. It was a blast! We had an amazing time and so did everyone else. So many compliments from the guests and tons of people on the dance floor all night. The DJ honored my rule of no requests from the guests and had them visit me and my husband (then fiancé) before anything was approved to be played. He also did not play any Justin Bieber or country music (also noted). Juan was very sarcastic (which I love) and fun to be around. He made everything about us and was very attentive to any concerns I had through the whole process. I would definitely recommend memory makers for any future events or to others. So happy!!! Juan made the day. Thank you read more

Memory Makers Entertainment - August 12, 2017. Concorde Banquets. Kildeer, IL. - DJs Near Me - Grayslake, Illinois

We had DJ Nine Juan One for our wedding back in July and he did an awesome job. He really followed the music we requested while also mixing in appropriate guest requests. He was super easy to deal with and made sure he was available if we needed him but also out of our way when we were busy. He also did a great job interacting with the guests. Only thing that scared us a bit was that they followed up with us a few weeks before our wedding and asked if we still wanted a DJ after we had already signed the contract and paid in full. It seems like there was a paperwork mix-up possibly, but luckily everything turned out to be just fine. I think Juan is also now helping some of the operations stuff so that's probably not an issue anymore. We would certainly use Memory Makers (and Juan) again! read more

I am a wedding planner/producer and my clients and I had an absolutely HORRIBLE experience dealing with Dave of Memory Makers. My clients booked Memory Makers after seeing their DJ showcase at a wedding expo in January 2014. The bride and groom strongly preferred a specific DJ, DJ Tom, and Dave offered them a special rate of $1000 if they booked Memory Makers at the expo, requesting that my clients pay the entire amount up front. At no time did Dave send them a contract to sign. During several emails between Dave and the clients in the following months, it was confirmed that DJ Tom would be the DJ at the wedding. Things seemed to be going well....until 2 months before the wedding. My clients emailed Dave several times with no response. When Dave finally did respond, he once again confirmed that DJ Tom would be DJing their wedding. Then, just a month before the wedding date, Dave said that Tom was now unavailable, that he had to go visit his daughter at college, and that DJ Rod would be DJing the wedding. My clients were furious! They had seen DJ Rod at the expo and did not like his DJ style or presentation. They paid for DJ Tom, they were expecting DJ Tom, and the whole situation felt like a bait-and-switch. At this point the bride & groom decided to hire my company, South Social & Home, as their wedding planner/producer. In order to avoid any further distress, I set them up with a more reputable DJ company (Toast & Jam) and told my clients that I would handle the situation with Memory Makers. The last thing I wanted was for my clients to have to deal with drama and stress in the final weeks before their wedding... I communicated with Dave via email, in a well-worded and professional manner on my end. I requested that he refund their money and move on. After a couple of poorly-worded, misspelled, grammatically-incorrect emails, he very quickly pulled in his LAWYER and had his LAWYER email me, stating that they would NOT be refunding the money, and that they had a strict "90 day cancellation policy" and that they "did not guarantee DJs". Which, I suppose we would have been aware of, had Memory Makers ever provided my clients with a contract! I continued to communicate back and forth with the lawyer, stating that there was NO contract signed and that my clients had NEVER been made aware of any kind of non-guarentee or 90-day cancellation policy. Dave and his lawyer, David, continued to refuse to refund the money. At one point, a week before the wedding, the lawyer said that Dave was "going above and beyond" by offering to DJ the wedding himself. This was all stated in a context that assumed we would be....grateful? Happy? Relieved? NO. At that point, my clients felt completely swindled, duped, and bullied; they wanted absolutely nothing to do with Memory Makers and simply wanted their money back. It is now nearly a month after the wedding. All of my emails to Dave and his lawyer David Maloney have gone unanswered. The offices of David Maloney do not answer the phones and do not return any messages. It was only when the clients emailed Memory Makers to let them know that we'd be posting our experience on Yelp, wedding message boards, and other review sites, did we get a response.....Ready for this? Memory Makers' lawyer said that they would refund HALF of their money, but ONLY IF WE ALL SIGNED A DOCUMENT SAYING WE WOULD NOT POST NEGATIVE REVIEWS. This was obviously completely out of the question for my clients and they immediately declined. At this point (Nov 28, 14) Memory Makers has still not refunded the $1000 paid in good faith to them for the confirmed services of DJ Tom. I have been in the wedding industry for nearly 8 years and my company has over 100 weddings under our belt. I have NEVER dealt with such an unprofessional vendor, nor have I had such an unpleasant situation arise. I was beyond disappointed and hope this helps other couples avoid any similar dealings. read more

Don't trust this place. I booked him 3 months ago and he cancelled 1 week before wedding. Jerk wouldn't even return my calls.

Dj Robin RUINED my wedding on 5/13/17. To start things off. He was not the dj we had picked. We picked out the dj we wanted last year. The owner Dave gaurantees that of your selected dj can't make it that he will come and dj. Our dj that we had picked was not there and Dave sent us the worst dj he could find. I did not find out about the dj switch until 3:45pm when my ceremony was at 4:30pm. I should have been contacted way before that. I was contacted via text by Robin that he was our dj and he was running late. We sent a text to Dave to call us right away due to the issue and the response he sent was " I'm in the middle of a ceremony, I'll call you in 10 minutes". Completely dismissing the fact that my wedding was going on. Robin was 45 minutes late. He did not have any of our intro songs, my groomsmen had to tell him what they were. Shouldn't Dave have provided him this?? He messed up all the entrances by skipping people, not announcing the right names and not the right songs. He talked so softly no one could hear him. Robin did not even make an effort to get the crowd involved!!! He also played music with swearing in it with young kids in the room. Hello it's a wedding not a bar!! My wedding was totally RUINED by them!! I WOULD TAKE YOUR BUISNESS ELSEWHERE!!! Memory makers takes advantage of couples who are getting married. read more

Great entertainment! Dave and Juan are too funny. Put on a great show and provide the best music lighting and drone footage! Really unbelievable work, keep it up read more

Memory Makers was fantastic for our wedding. We attended a showcase they put on and we got the full discount and a free photobooth. We originally had Andre selected as our dj as we have been to weddings he did and we were very impressed. However, due to a conflict Dave the owner ended up being our DJ. While I wasn't too happy at first about this news as we booked Andre about 9 months out and we got the news he was a no go 5 days before the wedding but Dave assured us he would give it his all and he definitely did that. Dave was on point, got all the names right and had the party going all night. It was a great event and Dave certainly made his mark. I would definitely recommend Memory Makers for your big day!! read more

This is not your regular DJ company, but a high end custom engineered party factory. I was recently at a wedding where DJ NineJuan1 was our party captain and the music was fun, constant and he was a riot. He brought all sorts of cool lights too. It really made for interesting effects. I've seen other DJs too from Memory Makers, and they are simply the best. Next event for me is Memory Makers for sure!!! read more

Memory makers was a big disappointment for us. It started out great. We went to their event before we booked with them. My now husband had been emailing with them and everything seemed great so at the event we decided to book them as our dj and after talking to them decided to also book our Photobooth with them. We picked ou top choices to dj our wedding and were told one of them would contact us when the wedding date was closer to discuss what we wanted. Our wedding date got closer and closer and no one called. We finally had to contact them. Bit annoying but fine. Day of the wedding comes and I don't recognize the dj. No notice that it would be someone other then our choices but he did a good job and I had no complaints about how he handled everything. The Photobooth however is TERRIBLE! First it's this ugly white blow up thing that they light up with multi colored lights. Not at all what I was led to beleive when I had booked it. I had sort of a barn style rustic meets elegant wedding. With candles and glass and wood and had been looking for a more traditional Photobooth, not a flashing, multi colored, puffy blow up box thing. Sadly how absolutely horrible it looked wasn't the worst part. IT DIDNT WORK! All the pictures turned out dark and blurry. I went to try taking photos with my bridesmaids twice. Both times I stood around while the guy working the booth waived his hand around in front of the camera trying to get it to focus. I have more photos of his hand then myself. It was ridiculous and frustrating and I hate that I wasted time at my wedding standing around for blurry dark photos. So after talking to my husband about how upset I was he contacts memory makers. They email back and forth a few times then they stop responding. So then I try. I am furious at this point and just want my money back for the useless Photobooth. They ask me to bring in my copies of the photos but when I finally get a time scheduled with the, they cancel last minute. At this point my husband and I are in the process of moving I no longer have time to meet with them so they say they will put a check in the mail and they are sorry. No check comes. I reach out again. No response. It's been over 6 months. Still no money back. read more

Are you getting married? Book THIS company..and if you can get him, DJ Greg 'The Hammer' I will be honest, i had to e-mail the owner a few times to get a response regarding my paperwork being received and i didn't get back a signed contract but that's small stuff--the BIG stuff is having a DJ who knows a wedding DJ doesn't just stand and play songs. He pumps up the crowd--and listens to his bride and groom of the night. I made a poor choice to put family near speakers--and we adjusted the volume very easily. Greg came out during cocktail hour, while i was taking some family photo's--he waited patiently until i was free to step away and he went over spelling and big key items with me with a smile. When my rowdy wedding party was waiting to do our grand march-- out came the HAMMER and his voice got everyone to listen and he ran through names AGAIN to make sure he didn't mispronounce a single name. He got the crowd involved,and throughout the night--he joked with me and i felt like i had three wedding coordinators, the one i hired, her asst and Greg. All three had my back, didn't let me miss anything of my wedding--and I'm the happiest with that purchase for my wedding. An example of why Greg rocked it--We did a dance for married couple's. At 35 years or less..everyone *the remaining 5 couples* all left the floor like they planned it. Greg laughed so loud and said "wait a minute.." got away from his table and he found the couple whom i gave a rose. That couple proceeded to flamingo dance with the rose between their teeth while Greg watched on with amusement, then he cheered them on and got the crowd roaring. My bouquet toss..He guided me where to stand, and when i threw it...well..there was two girls my maid of honor and cousin and they ripped it, Greg instantly had a joke ready to go. He knew exactly what he needed to do, and i never needed to worry. I had the BEST wedding. The showcase was awesome, i did get to see how their company works to get your business. Why should you hire someone who you can't meet? Their showcase is brilliant, and if you can't attend one---their youtube has even better video's. Bottom line, HIRE THIS COMPANY, and try get the Hammer! read more

I have tried unsuccessfully to get ahold of them to collect payment for a job I performed for them. I have called 6 times and they will not respond. It has been over a month now and I would like to be compensated for my time and product. read more

Memory Makers performed at our wedding 2 weeks ago, and I still have people telling me that it was the best and most fun wedding they've ever been to (including my parent's friends in their 50's). Dave was real easy to deal with from a business aspect, and he was pretty laid back and accommodating. Most vendors we met gave us a presentation and prepped speeches for their services, but Dave just had a conversation with you and it was a welcome change from the used car salesman act of many other vendors. Our DJ was Juan, and I cannot recommend him enough. We talked with him maybe 5 days before the wedding (we did meet him at a showcase before we booked him) and went over our planner for about 30 minutes. He made some good suggestions on things you wouldn't think of (It apparently takes longer than 3 minutes to cut a cake so have more than one song or at least a longer song picked out). He also checked with us multiple times throughout the night to make sure that everything was to our satisfaction and let us know when and how things were going to happen. Of course, the most important aspect is the music, and Juan delivered big time! My bride and her family favor 50's-70's era oldies (wedding staples), and my family favors Salsa and Merengue music. Juan was able to seamlessly blend the different styles and keep the dance floor packed for 4-5 hours straight and still had people coaxing 2 more songs after the "last" song. I literally had to push my grandfather (gently) off the dance floor so my bride and I could have our first dance since the entire party took to the dance floor without prompting as soon as dinner concluded. Plus all it took was me saying my family is Puerto Rican and naming one Latin song I wanted to hear for him to play the exact style of songs I've known and loved from past family get-togethers all night. At one time the maid of honor made a comment in her speech about me performing "Sweet Caroline" during Karaoke when she first met me, and sure enough Juan had that song ready to go and handed me the mic without any external prompting. All told it was a crazy fun night. After your day is over, in the days to follow you'll find yourself listing things you wish you had done differently. This wasn't one of them for me. Book them. They were awesome. No regrets. read more

We had a very poor experience with Memory Makers. We attended a DJ showcase in Mundelein and found two DJs we thought would be great for my daughter's wedding. We booked that night and were told there would be no problem having one of them at our event. I was dealing with Dave, the owner/manager and explained that this was my only daughter and I was not sparing expense. We then discussed photo booths as they had one there and were just starting to provide this service. We checked it out and decided to book that also. We left after Dave assured us we would be very happy with their services. The day of the wedding was beautiful and the first time we saw our DJ was waiting to be announced at the reception. The only problem was, we had never seen this guy before. He was not even at the showcase we attended. We asked what happened to the DJ we booked and he just shrugged. He was not good to put it politely. He stumbled through announcements and, as the evening went on, he struck up a little romance with our photographer! We actually have several pictures of them dancing together as our guests could not believe it! To add to this, the photo booth we got was a cheap, tiny box that took only black and white photos. This was nothing like the one we saw at the showcase. No props came with although they were present at the demo. To make this clear, I did not ask for any deals or discounts. I was very disappointed with Memory Makers and I would say you should get in writing, every detail you expect. read more

Based on our experience, I would not recommend Memory Makers for hire. We had DJ Jay for our wedding at the beginning of this month. We felt confident after leaving a DJ showcase a few months prior, but were not prepared for the errors that would be made on our wedding day. We were told the DJ would reach out to us the week of our wedding, but I was left emailing and calling two days before our wedding after we still had not heard anything. The DJ did not reference our event planning pages that we needed to fill out prior to the event and was constantly asking questions of us and the maid of honor throughout the reception. We had many guests tell us how difficult it was to hear the toasts and other announcements (our venue was one that we were told was familiar to the company, so speaker placement should not have been an issue). The greatest issue was that he did not play the correct song for the bridal entrance during the ceremony. It was a song that held meaning for both my husband and me, and that moment did not happen how we had pictured it. He then came up to us minutes before our entrance to to the reception to tell us he knew it was the wrong song and had several excuses to share (didn't have his own equipment, all his files were corrupt so he was playing off his phone). We could have been unlucky picking our DJ, because it sounds like there are several others that have mostly positive reviews. However, when I reached out to the company, we received a generic apology with no specific follow through. We requested a small portion refunded to us, but never received a reply. We were disappointed to see that it wasn't just our DJ that displayed unprofessionalism the night of our wedding, but also the owner of the company with the lack of communication leading up to and after the fact. If we were to do it all over again, we would definitely seek other companies. read more