A floating candle is a finished candle cast as a wide, low disc so that it sits on water and burns where it floats. For a hotel or an event venue the format is less about the candle than about a repeatable table centre: the vessel stays, the disc is consumed, and the next service starts from a fresh disc.
This is how to plan a season of them rather than a single order.
What makes a floating candle float
A floating candle is not a container candle that has been dropped into water. It is cast as a wide, low disc, and that shape is the mechanism: the wax body is broad relative to its weight, so it displaces enough water to hold itself up and keeps the wick clear of the surface.
Two consequences follow. The disc has to be cast rather than poured into a jar, because the shape is doing the work. And because there is no container holding the melt pool, the wax has to burn down cleanly on its own.
When the candle finishes there is no wax residue in the vase. The vessel goes back on the shelf and the next event takes a fresh disc — which is the reason the format suits hospitality at all, and why it is the cheapest way to put a live flame into a water-based centrepiece.
How many discs does a venue need per event
The quantity question gets easier once you stop pricing per candle and start pricing per table.
- Count the centrepieces that actually get a candle, not the guests.
- Decide how many discs sit in each one. Several small discs spaced across a wide bowl read as a composition; one large disc in the same bowl reads as an object.
- Add a working buffer for the discs that get dropped, extinguished early, or taken home by a guest.
Then check the pack count before ordering. Discs are fragile at the rim, so the carton count — not the unit weight — is what decides your breakage rate and your freight volume.
Three things to settle before the first season order
Float the sample, do not just look at it. A batch that varies in weight or diameter will not behave the same way in the same vase. Ask for a sample and float it in the vessel the venue actually uses, at the water level the staff actually fill to.
Test the burn in that vessel. A disc with a badly matched wick will tunnel, flicker, or leave residue on the water. A floating candle is judged on the table, not on a spec sheet.
Fix diameter and colour in the same conversation as the price. Other diameters and colourways are quoted per project, so leaving them until after the quote means quoting twice.
Planning a season instead of an event
A venue order is not a larger wedding order. It fails in different places.
- Storage sets the reorder point. Discs are light but bulky and fragile at the rim. Stored loose in a cupboard, the last third of a carton becomes loss.
- Batch-to-batch colour consistency matters more than consistency inside one batch. A centrepiece that was white in spring and slightly warmer in autumn is visible in photographs even when nobody can name the difference.
- Reordering a format is easier than reordering a specification. Once a disc is approved in a specific vase, that pairing is the thing to keep ordering.
Flame safety and what the venue has to show
A floating candle is an open flame on open water, so venues usually answer a question from an insurer or a fire officer before they answer one from a guest.
ASTM F2417 is the Standard Specification for Fire Safety for Candles. It addresses finished candles rather than the wax they are made from, which matters when a buyer sends a supplier questionnaire that mixes the two. Ask what your insurer or licensing authority requires before the specification is fixed, because a requirement can change the wick and the disc, not just the paperwork.
Where the format is the wrong choice
Floating candles are a table-setting product, not a scent product. The 3 inch disc we list is unscented, and that is normal for the category: the candle burns on open water, usually beside flowers and food, so most event buyers specify no fragrance at all.
If the product is a scent, a gift object or a burn-time claim, a container candle or a wax melt serves that better. If the centrepiece is the product, this is one of the cheapest live-flame options a venue can run.
It also sits beside the other two ways we supply a table-centre candle without a conventional pour: sand wax granules in a refillable vase, and pearl candle wax for suspended candles. Venues running a mixed programme often carry all three and let the room decide. The refillable vase programme is the one to read next if the vessel is the part you plan to keep.
What to put in the RFQ
- Vessel dimensions — the diameter of the water surface and the fill level used in service
- Discs per centrepiece, and centrepieces per event
- Events per month, and whether the programme is seasonal or year-round
- Colour, and whether it has to match a batch you already hold
- Whether the venue reuses vessels or buys them with the candles
Send that and the size recommendation comes back with the price rather than after it. Reply within 24 hours by WhatsApp or phone at +86 133 8403 0866, or by email to kris@posision.com. The RFQ guide covers the rest of the fields a supplier needs to quote without a second round of questions.
Every batch we ship is QC-checked in-house and leaves with the certificate of analysis for its lot, so the material you approve on a sample is the material you reorder. Send an RFQ with your vessel size, or ask for the free sample with the batch COA.