When To Use Wax Pillar Candles, Tea Lights & Flameless Candles At Your Event

December 26, 2017

When you're planning your special event, the merits of genuine wax pillar and tea light candles vs flameless LED pillar and tea light candles may be one of the furtherest things from your mind.

But it makes an enormous difference to the style, cost, and safety levels of your event.

Tea light candles
Advantages
Long-burning - usually 9-hour burning - tea light candles are designed for special events which run for many hours (or where the client doesn't have time to replace the ones that have already burned out), and they always look beautiful flickering gently in tea light candle holders, especially when reflected in mirrors. 

Disadvantages
Unless you buy the special 9-hour burning tea light candles, the 100-pack of tea light candles sold at Ikea and other shops offer only 2-3 hours burning time which means your tea lights will have burnt out well before the main course ends, thus killing the atmosphere! You also cannot hire them.

Flameless tea light candles
Advantages
You can buy or hire as many flameless tealight candles as you need. They suit opaque votive holders which are deep and narrow, helping to hide the entire "body" of the candle unit. 

Disadvantages
You may be asked by your venue to use these whether you want to or not so you need to get good quality ones.. Ensure your votive holder is deep enough to hide the "flame" because if the candle sits flush with the holder as you will be horribly transfixed by the fakery of the flame!

As a side note, you will never ever see any flameless tea light candles openly featured in blog posts or magazine editorial features - unless the votive holders hide them inside through their opacity and/or height.

Wax pillar candles
Advantages:
They look amazing lit up in gleaming hurricane lanterns, ornate Moroccan lanterns and dotted in groups in fireplaces, on mantelpieces, windowsills, on your guest welcome table, guest tables and along pathways. Anywhere, really.

Disadvantages
They melt and drip, creating a mess in the lanterns and pose a potential fire hazard. They can be expensive per candle and you can't hire them.

Coloured wax dinner candles
Advantages
Coloured wax dinner candles are ideal lighting options for candelabras, and come in a range of 32 stunning colours to help theme your tablescape or add an unexpected pop of colour. 

Disadvantages
They're single-use, costly and fragile. They will drip if there's a draught, breeze or there's a fan in use.

Flameless pillar candes
Advantages
LED pillar candles pose no fire risk, they create no mess, and you can buy or hire flameless pillar candles. 

You don't usually see the  fake "flameless" flame unless you peer right down into the pillar candle. Most guests understand that many venues have a flameless candle policy!

Disadvantages
You'll be sorry if you don't invest in good quality ones. Fake ones just kill your atmosphere. 

Enjoyed this? Find out what your decor hire company wants you to know about your venue before you ask for a quote.

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