It’s really important that you consider the venue, placement, and design when choosing how to light your tables and aisles, at your wedding.
While some are trending towards more candlelight for their wedding decor, consider your venue and wedding date first! If you are getting married outside on a peak summer date in the PNW, it won’t be dark enough to count on candles to light your way until near the very end of your wedding. If you are outside, real candles may not even stay lit.
We’ve seen trends start elsewhere then slowly make their way on to wedding inspiration boards. Some wrongly think they’ll save money by ditching flowers and opting for candles alone for there ceremony backdrop. It’s gorgeous and I’m here for it in November – February at an indoor venue. It’s not going to work outside on a bright hot summer day.
The downsides of real candles include cost, venue rules, fire risks, and broader candle impracticality as discussed above. Pillars for your wedding can cost $300-$1000+ depending on the scope of the design. You also need vessels to hold them in. LED reusable candles not only cost less (we let our clients borrow ours when they hire us for design services) but also they create less waste and are safer. I can speak from experience, keeping floating candles or pillars lit when placed on the ground can be a challenge especially if you have guests who don’t know the ettiquet of never walking down the wedding center aisle to take their seats. long dresses can create a breaze that blows them out, and if you are outdoors they may be impossible to keep lit. LED lights work under all conditions and cannot cause any damage or risk. While we follow all fire codes, keep in mind lit candles on the ground even while properly contained can be banned specifically by your venue and written in to your contract, as well.
For your guest tables, cocktail tables, and head or sweetheart table, sometimes folks really want to use tapers to give height and depth to their overall decor. If your wedding is outside, wind, sun and melting/drooping risks can be a serious challenge. It’s important that you protect from fire hazards by not having an open flame. Chimneys must be used when using tapers on your tables. If you are doing family style meal service at long tables where people may be passing across as opposed to around, think about keeping your candle designs low. In this picture above we had family style and kept the design very tight so there would be room for catering to place platters and for guests to pass around.
Votives are always a great candle, we especially love them for tables where you are featuring statement floral centerpieces or where your tables are already very full for service. Real candles are fairly inexpensive (we include them in your designs when we do your florals) and you can easily use our LED votives instead if your wedding is at an outdoor location where they cannot stay lit due to windy conditions.
Monet Glass is a favorite of mine. You get the beauty of height and diversity in depth in your design, we use floating candles for these (you could also use LED votive candles we provide), and they work with all dinner service styles and at most tables.
Yet again candles are a reason to consider a Fall, Winter or early Spring indoor wedding. They’re also a great way to complete any design at any venue, any time of year – with a little bit of planning.
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