Choosing Floating Candles

If you're about to get married, or have been married before, you'll know how incredibly expensive the whole thing can be.  We're talking money for the church, the reception, the food (and caterers), the centrepieces etc.

There are various ways you can save yourself money, including making your own centrepieces.  You can do this with flowers, glass ornaments etc.  However, a great (and not to mention inexpensive) way is by using a floating candle.  These are exactly what you'd expect: Candles that are made to float.  By using a few simple tricks, you can make the centrepieces yourself, based around these candles, and have them look even better than professionally bought centrepieces.

Most candles these days are made from paraffin, which can be coloured, scented and shaped by the manufacturer.  However, there are many other types available, including soy candles, plant-wax, beeswax, and gel candles.  They're made by setting the material (paraffin or other) around a wick.  When this has hardened, the wick can be lit.  After it's been lit, the top of the solid mass of candle will start to melt.  The melted wax (or paraffin etc.) will be pulled up the wick by the heat, vaporize, and burn off.  As the candle's fuel is burned off, so will be the top of the wick, which always keeps it at a reasonable height.

If you do decide to make your own floating candle centrepieces, the first step is to choose the right candles (or I should say to choose the right candles for your needs).  There are multiple sizes and colours, not to mention scents, and to save more money, you can even buy wholesale floating candles.  If you decide to make these centrepieces for your home (which is another option), consider using your favourite scent.  However, be careful if they're to be used at a wedding reception; if people are eating, the smell of a scented candles might detract from the scent and taste of their food.  In this case, it's always best to opt for unscented floating candles.

You can find a box of coloured candles that will do the job nicely for between $2 and $3.  However, if you really want to splash out, you can find fantastically shaped wedding floating candles (such as perfectly shaped red rose petals).  These are much more expensive (at nearly $7 for a pack of three), so if you're doing these for a whole room of guests, the cost will quickly mount up.

Also ensure that you choose good quality candles.  You can find cheap ones in boxes by the dozen; but these will burn out quickly and have the potential to release small amounts of (not dangerous, but off-putting) smoke.  So always choose lead-free wicks and low-soot wax.

After choosing the candles, you'll need to decide upon a bowl to contain them. You'll want it to be good quality, but not so expensive that it defeats the point of doing your own centrepieces – if you have to buy one for each table, the cost can quickly increase. A bowl with a short stem can be good if you're only using one floating candle. However, you might like to consider using a few candles floating in a wider bowl or one that's shaped to your particular style.

Now it's time to release your own creativity and decorate the bowl. You can leave it simple and minimalist (perhaps you don't want to decorate it at all), or use silk (or real) flowers, coloured sand, shells, fake-diamonds. Perhaps you'd even like to colour the water – deep blue water to contrast with red candles, for example, can really make them stand out.

Rather than just placing the bowls on the tables, it's usually more suitable to construct a base. You can really use whatever you want, and whatever fits with your particular table and centrepiece design. Some common options would be flower petals, wood, fabric, or even mirrors if you don't mind the slight extra expense. If you're using mirrors, be careful they're not easily breakable, especially if there are children around. In fact, if there will be children at the wedding (as there are at most weddings), it's probably not a good idea to put candles at the childrens' table in the first place.

This whole process is easier than you imagine – just give it a go with one centrepiece and, when you've made the perfect one, replicate for the other tables. This really is a great and very cheap way to add your own style to your wedding reception tables. If you buy bulk floating candles, they can also be a great addition to your living room at home.

Please note that the image above belongs to Wikimedia user Ekabhishek, and has been kindly released under a Creative Commons License.