Candles at weddings are de rigueur these days. While they are indeed beautiful and add to the festivities, good sense and preparation are a must when engaging open flames at your event. The following tips and tricks will ensure the fire department doesn’t crash your party.
Rule #1: In California, unexposed lit candles are illegal. If you are getting a fire permit from the state, be sure to have a maximum of only 6 votive candles per table when the fire marshall arrives for inspection.
Rule #2: In an air-conditioned room, cut your candle’s wicks down or they will light up like the Olympic torch.
Rule #3: If a client supplies her own candles, always test them. I had a client bring in three-foot tall pillar candles from Mexico for a Chapel wedding. We lit those babies up and they very nearly smoked out the church before we extinguished them.
Rule #4: To be certain it stays lit, a candle burning outside needs to be encased in a Hurricane glass that is at least three inches tall. This is not the place to pinch pennies; cheap hurricanes will crack when they get hot.
Rule#5: Rethink too many candles in a stuffy, overheated room. Candles are lit with fire and as such will produce more heat.
Rule #6: Don’t throw confetti around open flames. Don’t. Just don’t.
Rule #7: It’s never a good idea to place candles at the children’s table. While the wee ones will find the flickering flames jolly fun, when the tablecloths go up in smoke it’ll be too late to change your mind.
Rule #8: Unless you want starfish le feu, avoid placing them next to candles. Starfish literally explode when overheated.
Following this advice will help your wedding to be a fun, hot-smokin’ event.
Just not in that annoying 9-1-1 kind of way
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NICE! This should be tattoed on every bride’s forehead – seriously, cuz they always want “tons of candlelight”, eh?
Cheers, A