flowers or candles?

Question

tablepieces for my wedding reception.. we are having a small and intimate reception an i think that tealights would be a better idea to add atmosphere without crowding the place and making it feel even smaller.. but all i can find on websites is about flower tablepieces. im starting to wonder if my plan is wrong/untraditional..... i wouldnt want people to lookback on the day and think "oh they did that wrong" can you help me make up my mind?

Answer 1

Well I think candles are wonderful and are simple and can been done easy, cheap and look elegant. I am having a pillar candle in the middle of a vase and a few votive around the vase in small holders.

Tea-lights are wonderful but only last about 2-3 hours. Votive Last 3-5 hours. Pillars last 5-15 hours depending on the size. Plus a pillar gives off enough light for people to see but will not be over powering. If you want some that will last, don't make a mess, or have a bad smell you should look into partylite products I love them and will not burn any other candle ever. There are a little more expensive but are so much better.

Candles a simple but lovely and are easy to set up and clean up. Or you can give away to guest to take home. Just my opinion thought do what you like the best it is your wedding!

Best Wishes and Good luck planning your special day!

Answer 2

It isn't wrong at all -- it is just more common to have flowers. Especially if you are getting married between October and April, though, candles can lend a more authentic feel than flowers out of season. Tealights are romantic and charming and I think they'd look beautiful -- and be less expensive!

There are good combinations of flowers and candles that you can also do if you are concerned that someone might think you just weren't paying attention to the options. I was recently at a wedding where they had pillar candles in neat holders at every other table and then flowers in vases at the rest. It made the room look less cluttered to disperse the candles and flowers around.

Another idea is to have floating tea lights in bowls of water. Variations include placing colored glass "stones" at the bottom of the bowls for a bit of color, using scented tea lights to create ambiance (make sure the scents don't clash with the food smells or are lighted only after dinner!), or using a combo of floating tea lights and floating candles, either in the same bowl together or in alternating bowls at different tables.

Personally, I am planning to have floating flowers and floating candles in bowls at each table, with colored glass pieces at the bottom of each bowl. I'm not doing the scents, though -- too complicated with the food!

Good luck!

Answer 3

I think that candles are great for a reception. We had candles of all sizes at ours.
You could buy some charger plates in silver or gold, put some white sand on them and then the tealights in the clear plastic down in the sand.

Keep in mind though, tea lights burn out fairly fast - you might want to light a couple and time how long they burn for. Its only a couple hours at the most.

I buy the tea lights at Target in the clear plastic containers all the time in different colors and scents...they look so much better than the ones in the silver linings.

Candles are most definitely not untraditional!

Answer 4

Who cares if people think it's "wrong" it's your day/your way ! Also, flowers can be really,really expensive depending on the floral arrangement. Candles are very inexpensive and provide and intimate setting in any room ! Find a floral centerpiece that you like and take it to a few florists to get an estimate on what it would cost to duplicate such a look.... Then see what it costs to do a candle type centerpiece... That will at least give you an idea of what you are looking at... My sister-in-law/ I got married the same yr. While her parents paid for everything- We were on a tight budget.... I got married in Las Vegas I brought various casino buckets home to use as "vases" for my centerpieces. We used colorful bouquets of real flowers.. It was AWESOME and people took my centerpieces home while my sister-in-law had a family member do her flowers and spend about $2000 mostly for "renting" the vases as such... Total spent on our flowers was $80 including delivery. After 4 yrs. people STILL remember my table setting/centerpieces and decorating.. It was all Las Vegas theme.. .Poker chips/cards/dice on the table.. A slot machine card collector.. So, do what you want because that's what you want to do.. NOT to make other people happy.... Good luck

Answer 5

You can use either or both. Some people even use decorative plants or vases with rocks.

I would recommend votive candles instead of tealights because they last longer.

Instead of doing one large centerpiece you can also do a smaller flower arrangement and a few candles. My arrangements are going to be small both to save money and also I want people to be able to look at the person sitting across from them!

Answer 6

Hi and congratulations!

You can do whatever YOU want....there is nothing carved in stone as to what you have to have.

I am not sure where you live, but you mention tealights (which I do love), but they are really small....like this:
http://www.makememory.com/favors8908.htm

Perhaps, you meant you were going to have votive candles? Those are a little bigger, like this:
http://www.makememory.com/favors7747.htm

These are just examples, you don't have to have the fancy holders. I think to add an elegant ambiance, have some votives on the table and scatter some rose petals (silk ones) around them. I even saw one really easy centerpiece....it was simply a "bed" of silk rose petals and then about 6 votives on top of that staggered. It looked very pretty and was inexpensive! You can put it all on top of a large mirror tile to really add some extra sparkle if you want!

Good luck!

Answer 7

Here's an idea, use both! You can buy small mirrors to put as centerpieces and have tealights all around them. In the very center get pretty glass bowls and have floating flowers - the overall look is amazing!

Answer 8

It's not wrong. Here's what I'm doing: http://www.minottsflowers.com/images/tables/JamieBloomquist/t_49.jpg

In case you can't see... it's some small pond rocks with tealights and flowers. The only difference is that I'm going to use fake flower petals instead.

I think it looks really pretty and isn't so high people at the other side of the table can't see eachother!

Answer 9

I don't mean to scare you but recently I had a very bad accident with a tea light candle, basically the wick had ignited the whole pool of wax and it exploded into a fire ball, I got bad burns to my left arm which are very nasty (I have photographic evidence) and so I am now very wary of those type of candles, I just don't think they are safe, I would hate for something like this to happen to anyone else so am very keen to highlight the dangers of tea lights, you would not believe the damage it caused. With that in mind I would say flowers! Or consider a different type of candle, just not tea lights. How about some of those Church style pillar candles, they can be grouped together in glass vases with pebbles, they look pretty and are much safer than tea lights.

Answer 10

Nothing is wrong now a days, especially for centerpieces. My sister did tealights in rose bowls, they were beautiful and a lot cheaper than flowers. I think the candles are more romantic!!!

Good luck