Events By Design

We started planning our dream destination wedding and after a trip up and down the California coast we selected San Diego as our destination and the Del Coronado Hotel for the location. We did some research and spoke to a few of the locals for recommendations on a wedding planner. Events By Design came highly recommended by more than a few people. So we gave them a call and set up our first meeting with Jessica Gillon. After the initial meeting we knew Jessica was the person we wanted as our wedding coordinator. She was energetic, attentive, informative and genuine.
We live in Kentucky so relied on Jessica to do a lot of the leg-​work for the wedding from recommending and working with the all the vendors to handling the tracking of the contracts. She really took the weight (and the stress) off our shoulders. From start to finish, Jessica was integral in making our wedding day a dream come true. We couldn’t have asked for a better wedding coordinator!!!

We hired Jessica to help us plan our destination wedding at the Hotel del Coronado. We live in Chicago and after much discussion between my fiancé and I, we knew we were going to need all the help we could get. From the first email of inquiry into her services, we were confident she was who we wanted to work with as she was quickly attentive to our questions and concerns.
While every wedding is different, ours was unique in that we wanted to have an Indian ceremony and a traditional American ceremony not to mention a lunch and a reception too.
Jessica was always there for a quick question or a lengthy discussion (phone/​email/​skype, you name it) — whatever we needed, she certainly took on. She also had the best vendor recommendations. The team of vendors that we put together were all fantastic and worked very well together (so important).She did a flawless job of handling the details of the Indian ceremony, coordinating the mid-​day lunch, American ceremony and the drop dead gorgeous reception. She created a day that we never wanted to end.
Now here we are post-​wedding and my husband and I are still talking about how surreal our wedding day was. We loved every minute of «our day» and Jessica delivered on helping us to create the most enchanting day of our lives.
Jessica, plain and simple, we owe you the biggest thank you of all for helping us to create a memory that still gives us goosebumps. You quickly became more than a wedding planner to us, you became a friend.
Thank you for everything!
Andrea & PK

Jessica is the best wedding coordinator! She has the most unique and special ideas. She made our wedding the most beautiful stress free day! I cannot say enough about her and her team. The best you can ask for !!! I wish every bride can have such a special person to help them plan for their special day. Michelle Gershen

DJ for our wedding was Jon Krause with Events by Design. Let me start by saying how picky I was about our DJ… The DJ can make or break the wedding and Ive seen so many weddings where the DJ just did not do a good job for one reason or another (telling inappropriate or unfunny jokes, constantly name dropping/​advertising themselves, playing awful music, etc). So I went into the wedding experience ready to be unimpressed when all was said and done. Wow was I wrong.
Our wedding ceremony and reception was supposed to be all on the same grassy outdoor section. Well, it rained the day before, and day of, our wedding. Jon called my fiancé the night before the wedding to get it all figured out, since we had to move the reception indoors. Jon handled it completely it like a pro and did a ton of extra work without any hesitiation. Myself, my fiancé/​husband, and my parents were all so impressed by him.
The music during the reception was SPOT ON. We just had told him the style of music we wanted (low key/​classic/​romantic style) and i found myself thinking, «oh this is one of my favorite songs!!» for quite a few of the songs he played. he also played ones I hadnt heard before, but loved.
He also managed to get a ton of people dancing just with the music (no forcing people to get up and dance. if youve been to a wedding you know what im talking about). he also managed to keep them on the dance floor! Ive never seen more dancing at a wedding than at ours.
Do yourself a favor and book Jon. Fantastic DJ. I couldnt be happier with the job he did.

I’ve never hired a DJ before! This was important! I was planning my own surprise birthday party. hahahaha!
Checked out reviews on Unilocal.Called the three that caught my eye. Talked to a few via tele and selected Events by Design. Mostly because John G. returned my call so quickly and the price was right!
I coordinated with the owner John Gillon by phone and email. He couldn’t have made it easier! He is an easy going guy. Pleasure doing business with him. He followed through on every promise and every one of my questions.
He set me up with a DJ named John! I had a few special requests. Some mellow tunes for dinner then some dancing. Had to include some Persian tunes so I could watch my hubby ‘shake it up’ on the dance floor. Also, this party was in my backyard so DJ John recommended a visit to scope out the party pad!
He stopped by at the time he promised. Hung out with us out back and discussed what we wanted and what he could do for the party. He was so nice! Offered to bring lights for the caterers, too. Plus, dance lights. He said he’d bring them and then he’d have them if we wanted to use them. We did — it was a fabulous idea. He took the list of my favorite bands and solo artists. Suggested 40’s during the mellow times. I loved it! Then dance tunes. He was very receptive to play for kids and adults. He asked if he could take requests from the guests. Absolutely yes.
The night of the party. He set up even earlier than he said he would. He taped down the wires. Set-​up the speakers. Checked in with me frequently but at the appropriate times (never intrusive). I had wanted a DJ to make it more about atmosphere and music — rather than focus on the DJ (or even the birthday girl). He did a fabulous job at keeping the tunes rolling. Made the announcements for dinner and dancing. Yes, we did dance! Woop Woop HANDS UP IN THE AIR! Even announced when my daughter lost her first tooth. I cannot say enough nice things about the personal and seamless service!
The end of the night. He taught the little girls to scratch. Sweet. He also stuck around and taught me and another mommy a few things about the dj world and music in his computer.
I am so happy with the outcome of my surprise birthday party. Really, so much better than just me dj’ing with my Ipod and speakers.
THANKS SO MUCH FOR MAKING MY BIRTHDAY SPECIAL AND MEMORABLE!

My husband and I hired Events by Design to DJ our wedding. We worked specifically with Scott Zimmerman and had a FANTASTIC time working with him! Unlike other DJ’s that some friends have worked with, Scott did a great job of playing almost all of our requests, filling in the «blanks» with songs that he knew we’d love based off of our requests, and completely avoiding anything on our do-​not-​play list. He could not have been a more nice, professional, or fun DJ to work with. Due to a few other «glitches» (not related to anything to do with Scott or EBD), the wedding/​reception were running a bit behind schedule and Scott offered to stay and play a bit beyond his ending time so that the reception could wind down properly.
We’d met with a few other DJs and were feeling a bit skeptical by the time that we met with Scott, but my husband and I really clicked with him and knew that he’d be perfect for our ceremony/​reception as soon as we’d talked with him the first time, and we were right. Scott was awesome, and we highly recommend him.