It made a tremendous difference in the sense of light, since it eliminated that dark area surrounding the immediate feast. We've talked about so many cost-saving ideas on this list, we should surely be able to fit a few candles into the budget. One problem with the fat candles is that the entire surface does not burn. The heat of the wick doesn't reach that far. You get lots of light, gradually diminishing, until it burns itself a hole in the candle center, light hidden by the 'walls', and eventually drowns itself in melted wax.
Saucers are fine.
The cut away wax can be melted down and made into new candles, or molded while warm into something interesting. One thing we do to get around this AND let our wonderful choir see what they are singing is to make a candle shelf. When lit it creates wonderful ambiance with 20 or so candles on it and provides alot of soft light just right for our type of events. We then tried to incorporate as much of this into the event planning as possible. There were fabric hangings in the spaces between the pillars as well.