Summer weddings are often outdoors and when a couple wants to include a unity candle to the ceremony they are often faced with how to keep the candle lit. Sometime ago I experimented with various candles and wicks and finally came up with a trick. I’ve used this little trick for many years, and it’s never failed.
The trick is a wick exchange. Replace the existing wick in your unity candle with the wick of a trick birthday candle, the kind you can’t blow out.
Take a very fine drill bit and bore out the the unity candle wick. Remove the wax from the trick candle wick by just breaking the candle in half and sliding the wax off of the wick. The wax on the trick candle has nothing to do with the candle reigniting; it’s a small thread of magnesium in the wick that burns at a low temperature that causes the wick to ignite even after it’s been blown out.
You don’t have to remove all of the existing wick, simply go down far enough, about an inch to 2 inches and insert the trick wick, leaving about an inch of wick at the top of the candle to light. This works very well in pillar size candles. If the hole you have bored in the unity candle is too large for the new wick, simply dip the trick wick in melted wax before inserting.
Changing out wicks can be done several months ahead of time and it is a very good idea to practice on an old candle first. The smaller in diameter the candle is the more difficult it will be to change out wicks. With a little practice you’ll have a unity candle that will stay lit no matter how windy. Have fun!
