Burn, Baby, Burn

Among my many wedding panics, a couple of months ago I started fretting about all of the tea lights that were going to be on the reception tables. Wouldn't the room look awful if all of them weren't twinkling? Especially since we bought all of these pretty "bubble" tea lights from Crate & Barrel. Not nearly so cute if they're not lit up! I'd heard that most tea lights burn for around 4 hours on average...not ideal for my 6 hour reception.

I started researching tea lights like crazy and did find some web sites that had "super tea lights" that lasted for 8 or 10 hours. But they didn't come cheap, and I struggled to find the ones that come in the clear cups (vs silver).

Of course, I ended up doing what I always do and checked out Etsy. I started finding different sellers with soy tea lights and learned that not only do they burn cleaner (better for the environment!) they also burn longer. I saw somewhere in the ballpark of 7 or 8 hours (depending on conditions - sheltered from a lot of breezes and burning all in one sitting are optimal).

Etsy seller Worthy Soy Candles had an amazing deal on these tea lights, and I snagged 75 unscented white soy tea lights (in clear cups!) for $32.85 - that includes shipping. This was much cheaper than I'd been pricing out other places. But...once they arrived, I had to put them to the test!

Fortunately, they threw in a free tea light with my purchase so I didn't have to use one from the wedding stash. My free candle was purple and lavendar scented, yum! But, unfortunately, I had to leave in the middle of the "experiment" so I had to burn this candle in two sittings.

First Burn

Start: 3:40 pm


Stop: 6:25 pm

Time elapsed: 2 hours, 45 minutes


Second Burn

Start: 3:55 pm


Stop: 7:15 pm

Time Elapsed: 3 hours, 20 minutes

Total time candle burned: 6 hours, 5 minutes

Knowing that my tea lights will last for my 6 hour reception: priceless

To what lengths have you gone to ensure your decor really goes the distance?