Most couples know they want a violin. Far fewer know where it will stand, when exactly it plays, or what it needs in order to sound good. It sounds technical and dull, and it is precisely the difference between playing that lifts an event and playing that disappears into it.
Here is the scenario that repeats itself: the reception is outdoors, and loud background music is pouring out of the hall. I am standing outside trying to be heard over it. I do say in advance what I need — but sometimes the message never reaches the right person, and I find myself competing with a PA system. A violin does not beat a PA system. Ever. The fix is simple and takes a minute: someone decides in advance who plays outside, who plays inside, and at what volume.
"Stand wherever suits you" is not an answer. It needs to be a defined spot: not in the middle of a walkway, not behind a pillar, not facing a kitchen door that swings open every thirty seconds. Best to mark it during the venue walk-through, and to check it isn't where the photographer plans to place the two of you.
There is the first fifteen minutes as guests trickle in, the half hour when the space fills and gets loud, and the moment before the ceremony when everything goes quiet. Those are three completely different kinds of music. Deciding this in advance is what makes a reception feel designed rather than accidental.
Too trivial to write about. It isn't. A working socket within reasonable reach of where I stand — that is all it takes, and it is the thing most often discovered to be a problem five minutes before we begin.
Is there background music during the reception, and who controls its volume? Where exactly is the nearest power socket? And who is the contact who will actually be there on the day — not the person who sold you the venue, but the person standing in the room. Those three answers prevent most of what goes wrong.