Wedding or baptism candles: what’s the difference and which do you choose?

The difference starts with the number. For a wedding you buy two. For a baptism, one.

You’ve got the list in your hand. You’ve been asked to be a godparent, and one of the jobs that has fallen to you is the candle. You open the shop, look at the photos, and they all look the same: white, tall, with a pretty arrangement on them. It seems you’re only choosing the model.

The number of pieces is the only difference you can see on the receipt. The rest only show up when you order.

I’m Sînziana, from the Servus workshop in Maramureș, Romania. We pour both kinds, from the same wax and in the same moulds, so I understand very well why they look the same in the catalogue. But when you order, they behave differently: a different number of pieces, different decoration, different text written on them. Below is the whole list, so you don’t discover any of them on the day you no longer have time.

What’s the difference between wedding candles and baptism candles?

What differs is the number of pieces, the decoration and what’s written on them when they’re personalised. What doesn’t differ is the wax, the way they’re poured, the heights in the catalogue or the way they burn. That’s why they’re so easily confused: the body of the candle is the same, the product isn’t.

The simplest way to remember it: for a wedding it’s a pair, for a baptism it’s a single candle. The other differences follow from that.

For a baptism you buy one, for a wedding a set of wedding candles

We counted, model by model. In the wedding catalogue, every product is a "set of 2 candles": white, fluted, royal model, illustrated bride and groom, all of them. We don’t sell wedding candles singly, because they aren’t used singly.

In the baptism catalogue, it’s the other way round. Every product is a single candle. There’s no set of two.

The only exception is the bulk pack of twelve fluted baptism candles, and that isn’t meant for you. It’s for shops that resell them. If you’ve landed on it by mistake, you have eleven extra candles in your basket.

Who buys the candles and who holds them during the service?

In the orders that reach us, most of the time it’s the godparents who buy them. That’s also why most of the questions come from a godfather or godmother doing this for the first time.

The set is of two because one is held on each side of the bride and groom. How things go from there depends on the order of service in each church.

For a baptism there’s a single candle, for a single child. I won’t tell you how the service goes, because every priest has his own order of service and I have no way of knowing how it will be for you. Ask at the church if you want to be sure about that part. What I’ll tell you is what you’ll find in the box when the parcel arrives.

Why do they look almost the same in the catalogue, if they aren’t the same thing?

Because they’re the same body of candle. We pour them in the same moulds, from the same wax, with the same wick at the same diameter. What makes them "wedding" or "baptism" candles is what we put on them: the decoration and the text.

For a baptism, the decoration is made for a child. A little angel, a teddy bear, a little crown, cartoon characters, a colour theme. For a wedding, the decoration is made for two adults: an illustrated bride and groom, simple fluting, the royal model, plain white.

And here’s the trap. A soberly decorated baptism candle and a white wedding candle look similar enough for you to get the category wrong if you go by the photo. Look at the number of pieces in the title, not at the image. That’s where the truth is written, every time.

Do the sizes differ between wedding candles and baptism candles?

No. We counted in the catalogue, model by model: for both weddings and baptisms you’ll find 30, 35, 40, 50, 60 and 70 centimetres, in the same diameters. There are also a few short models, of 20 and 25. There’s no difference here, even though almost everyone expects there to be one.

So you don’t choose the size by the event. You choose it by how the candle will be held: in its own stand or in the hand, how it sits in the photographs, and how comfortable it is for whoever holds it during the service. A 70-centimetre candle looks impressive in a stand and becomes heavy in the hand exactly when it has to stay still.

One thing people nearly always find out too late: measure the place where you’ll put it before you order. Church stands aren’t all the same height, and at 70 centimetres the difference shows.

How long it burns doesn’t come into this. Whichever one you choose, the wax lasts dozens of times longer than the service — and the burn figures on our product sheets are per 5 centimetres of candle, not for the whole candle. That’s why they look small at first reading.

If you want to know exactly which diameter suits you, write to us on WhatsApp at +40 726 162 810 and tell us whether the candle will be in a stand or in the hand. We’ll tell you. It isn’t an extra service, it’s the way we work anyway.

What changes when you order, not in church

This is the second real difference, and it’s the one that produces the most last-minute messages. Personalisation is free on both, but it asks you for different information, and the moment after which nothing can be changed comes sooner than you expect.

The price shown includes printing the names, the date and the design elements for the models in our range. Nothing is added at the end.

What’s written on each one when it’s personalised?

For a baptism: the child’s name and the date of the baptism. That’s the standard text, and it’s what turns the candle into the thing the family keeps afterwards. Separately, the godparents’ names can be added too, if you like.

For a wedding: the couple’s names and the date, or a message from the godparents.

We never start directly from what’s written in the order. For every order with personalisation we call you first, and we agree the details together: the exact text, the diacritics, how it sits on the candle. Only after that call does it go into the works.

The reason is mechanical, not politeness. A name typed in a hurry as "Stefan" would end up on the candle as "Stefan", not "Ștefan" — and the text isn’t stuck on the surface, so that you could peel it off. It’s impregnated into the wax and covered with a thin sealing layer, and so are the pictures. That’s why they don’t scratch or peel off when handled, and that’s also why they can’t be corrected afterwards. The phone call is where it gets caught.

The personalisation itself takes 1–3 working days for personalised models and those with an image, and 1–7 working days for decorated ones. Where you fall in that range depends on how many orders are in the works that week — that’s why we tell you on the phone where you fit, not afterwards. The courier’s journey comes on top of that.

If you want to see what one looks like taken all the way through, I’ve written step by step how a wedding set came together this year.

What can’t be personalised on either?

The beeswax honeycomb models. They’re rolled, not poured, and on a honeycomb surface the text doesn’t sit. For now we don’t personalise them, neither for weddings nor for baptisms.

The rest, the poured models with a smooth surface, can be personalised. The criterion is the relief, not the material: on flutes the text doesn’t sit either, even on the poured ones.

If the model you like is honeycomb and you really want the name on it, tell us beforehand. We’ll show you what comes closest in look among the ones that can be written on, rather than you finding out after you’ve paid.

Once you confirm the photos, the order can’t be turned back

Before we ship, we send you photos of the personalised candle on WhatsApp. We only deliver after you say it’s fine.

This step isn’t a courtesy. The law that gives you 14 days to withdraw from online purchases — Romanian Government Emergency Ordinance 34/2014, Article 16 — excludes from it "goods made to the consumer’s specifications or clearly personalised". A candle with your names written on it falls exactly there. In other words, those photos are the only moment when something can still be put right, and after "it’s fine" there’s no second one.

Be clear about what this does and doesn’t mean: what goes is the right to change your mind, not your rights if the product is wrong or arrives with a defect. Those stay intact.

So read the photos carefully, not between two errands. Check the name letter by letter and the date digit by digit. The most frequent mistake we catch at this stage isn’t ours, it’s a missing letter in what we were sent. Caught there, it’s sorted the same day.

What happens on the road stays ours: if the finished product arrives broken or damaged because of transport or handling, we replace it under the "Nu-i bai" guarantee. That covers the parcel, not the text you gave us.

Before you order

You now have everything that differs between the two: the number of pieces, the decoration, what’s written on each and until when it can still be changed. And one thing that doesn’t differ, even though it seems to: the sizes are the same.

Four things, and the sum is done in five minutes:

1. Which event — wedding or baptism. That tells you whether you need a set or a single candle.
2. The date — so we can see whether it fits, including your confirmation of the photos.
3. The exact name, written the way you want it to appear on the candle.
4. Where the candle will be — in a stand or in the hand. That gives the diameter and the height.

Write to us on WhatsApp at +40 726 162 810 (we answer in English). We work Monday to Friday, between 8:00 and 16:30 (Romanian time), and courier delivery takes 2–4 working days.

If you want the whole event in one place, not just the comparison — what else goes into the baptism set, what to buy in advance, who brings what — I’ve put it all in the complete wedding and baptism guide.

We don’t send you a catalogue and we don’t leave you to choose alone from three hundred models. You tell us the event and where the candle will be, and we tell you what fits. If something won’t make it in time, you find out before you pay, not after.