Candles! Real or fake?

We aren't allowed to real candles so we're using water activated LEDs.

Either one would be fine I think. Michael's sells really nice fake candles...you can't even tell that they're fake.

I wanted all the candles at our wedding, and our venue also allowed for real ones. I went candle crazy for awhile and collected all sizes and shapes. Votive, hurricane, taper, etc. When I did an inventory before the wedding there were like 700ish candles. Pain in the butt - but they were beautiful!

We're using LED since our venue doesn't allow real

@JamieLynn- where did you get them? The ones I am finding are kind of expensive.

We are using real

I love real candles but after my grandpa accidentally set his napkin on a candle at an anniversary party and set a rather large fire on the table... we decided it's best to go with fake

1. I LOVE the picture you posted... its one of my inspo pics! Definitely what I'm going for.

2. Were allowed to have real candles so I'm having hundreds.

3. I recently starting buying my candles and holders (I intend to spray paint the holders and want to practice), and I got mine at IKEA! They have a pack of 100 tealights for $3.99 and $20 votives for $4.99. I'll be able to get all my candles and holders for the entire space for about $100

We arent allowed real ones so using LEDs in water

EW - Everywhere, literally. I just caution against Yumi Candles. They have great "deals" on candles, and then they charge you $300,00000000 to ship them. I got a lot of my votives on Amazon for a decent price. Oh, and tapers. "drip-less" tapers didn't turn out great. I even tested one at home before I bought in bulk, it didn't drip. Then at the wedding - they were dripping everywhere.

I used fake ones. It was easier and they even flickered like real ones in the lanterns.

I think if you can use real, go with real. I debated it but looking at LED ones close up (say sitting at a table with them) they're just not realistic looking enough for me.

ETA: seconding IKEA for cheap candles.

We used real, and we were really glad we did. We only had them on the table in lanterns and mercury glass votives. The venue decorated the walk up to the dinner room and fireplace mantle inside with LED candles and though they looked nice, it just wasn't the same as the real ones on the table. Even DH said the real candles gave it a better vibe and were a nice touch.

@Anne- I'll definitely look at IKEA! I need a bunch of votives so I can dip the top in any glitter.

The candles for the hurricane lanterns will need to be bigger and the ones I am seeing are about $20 a piece. If I can find them in bulk that would be best. How important is it to have them lit during the ceremony?

I'm using real candles. I honestly don't like how fake candles look. Not only that, but for Christmas we bought FMIL tea light holders that came with fake tea lights, and 2 of them didn't even work!

My venue only allows LED

@Erin the biggest pillar candles I saw at IKEA are $10. Check online, see if they're big enough?

We're using real candles - I really liked this look (picture attached), and with that much candle exposed - the real candles just gave it a nicer feel to me. Honestly - there were fake candles I liked as well, but they were just not cost effective for how many I would need and how much more they cost.

We're having the 3 clear glass holders with pillar candles sitting on mirrors, and 5 of the gold/silver candles around the outside, with some flower petals on the table too. It ended up being around $37 per table, plus a $10 fee for each table for set up... but my venue is going to buy my candle holders when we're done so we'll see how much of that I can recoup.

Real, because fake looks fake!

If you have the option to use real, real is always better. We weren't allowed real candles at my venue so I had to use the flameless ones which was fine, but if I could have used real I would have used a way more candle-centered centerpiece then I ended up with...because candles are the bomb.