A Wedding Client Wants 1,000 Candles but Only 700 Identical Jars Are Currently Available — Should I Accept the Order Before Confirming the Remaining Supply?

Your order as numbers: why the gap is 331, not 300

The title gives two figures, and they are yours: 1,000 candles ordered and 700 identical jars available. The rest is a worked example to replace with your own. The jar is CSI’s clear 200 ml Salsa; a 200 ml jar does not hold 200 g of wax, so the fill is a weighed 160 g at 8% (12.8 g oil + 147.2 g wax, total-weight basis; why 200 ml is not 200 g). The oil is Japanese Cherry Blossom, the wax CSI 464, the wick Eco C2 from the approved sample. Your price is ₹420.00 a candle (₹4,20,000.00), and the wedding is 40 days away.

That difference matters in the conversation with the client. "I have jars for 700" sounds like 70% of the order is safe. "I can promise 676, and 324 depend on a confirmation I am chasing" is the true position, and it is the one the client needs to plan the event around.

What "secured" means, and what it does not

"Available" is often a supplier’s view of their shelf on the day you asked; by the time you pay, another order may have taken part of it. For a wedding date, count supply in three tiers, and promise only from the first two.

CSI’s store shows whether a pack is in stock; it does not show how many, and we do not promise that a large quantity will still be there next week or that it comes from one glass batch. If the 700 are clear Salsa jars from us, ask on WhatsApp for the balance in writing with dispatch dates before you promise more than you hold. That is honest and useful; a confident "yes, should be fine" from anyone is not supply.

Four ways to close the gap, priced

Option B, done properly

A split delivery works when the wedding has more than one event and the client can tell you which one matters most. Send the 676 for the main function, and schedule the 324 for a later function (a reception a few days after, or return gifts) once their jars are confirmed. Production runs twice, so price the second set-up, the second delivery and the second cure honestly; they are real costs, not favours. Agree in writing what happens if the balance jars never arrive: a credit per candle, a substitute, or a cancelled balance. The one thing a split cannot fix is a single-event wedding where every guest needs the same candle on the same evening; there, only options A, C or D are real.

Whatever you choose, keep the 700 jars you already hold away from anything else in your workshop. Secured supply that quietly gets used for another order is no longer secured, and you would be back to promising from "available".

Option C, done properly

A substitute is a new container, even when it shares the Salsa name and the 63 mm lug cap. Neither the clear nor the coloured Salsa page states dimensions, so measure both before assuming they match, then run a short wick retest at the approved 8%: five coloured jars on C2 (the coloured pages say "Pairs well with C2 Eco Wicks") and five on C1, cured and burned to the final third. The kit costs ₹2,369.80: two 5-packs of coloured Salsa (₹620.00), 1.47 kg of CSI 464 (₹767.40), 128 g of the oil as 100 g + 50 g (₹770.00) and the two wick packs (₹212.40). If the substitute’s internal diameter or wall differs, expect the wick result to differ too (comparing a slightly different jar for a 1,000-candle order).

Then make it a design decision, not a patch. Offer the client the coloured jars for a whole function or a whole set of tables (mehendi in amber, reception in clear), with a signed sample of each. Two deliberate designs read as planning; 676 clear and 324 amber scattered across the same hall read as a shortage.

The risk of two jar batches or two designs

Option A sounds risk-free: the same jar, just more of it. But the balance may come from a different glass batch, and mass-produced glass varies between batches. Before mixing the 700 with the 331, compare ten jars from each, side by side.

If the batches match, mix freely. If they do not, the same rules as a substitute apply: place them deliberately and, if the inside of the jar changed, burn-test before pouring the balance. The measurements worth taking from any new jar batch are set out in what must match when a jar looks almost identical.

Buying in two stages

The sheet uses the series conventions: 1,053 candles’ worth of mix (1,010 ÷ 0.96 for a 4% loss) plus a 1% heel for wax and oil, jars on their own 2% breakage, wicks on pours plus 2%. Stage 1 covers the 676 candles the secured jars support (715 candles’ worth of mix, 9,243.52 g of oil); stage 2 the rest. On these products, two stages add up to exactly the one-shot figure (₹1,88,570.20 against ₹1,88,570.20): CSI 464, Eco C2 and the clear Salsa in 100s are flat per unit, and the oil’s pack split lands on the same total. That is not true of every oil, so check before you stage a different one.

CSI materials come to ₹188.57 per saleable candle, excluding labour, freight, packaging and GST. If option C is chosen, swap stage 2’s clear jars for coloured (₹21,700.00 instead of ₹10,325.00) and add the retest kit; if option D, stage 2 never happens and nothing is stranded.

The decision deadline, and what you never skip

Work backwards from the wedding, using your own durations. In the worked plan: delivery 2 days, QC and packing 3, cure 3 after the last pour, pouring 9 (about 117 candles’ worth a day), a substitute retest 8 and client approval 2: 27 days. From a day-40 wedding, that puts the decision on day 13. If the 331 jars are not confirmed in writing by then, you switch to the fallback you already agreed, while it still fits.

The products in this order

The order jar, the substitute, and the three standard materials that can be bought in two stages. Nothing is ranked on performance (CSI publishes no burn data).

Frequently asked questions