DIY Wedding Reception: How to Make Orchid Wedding Centerpieces

Orchids are one of the best examples of elegance and extravagance that you can use in your wedding ceremony. Although they are more expensive per stem than most other flowers, each stem contains a number of exquisite blooms, and by making the orchid wedding reception centerpieces yourself, you can save a lot of money on your wedding flowers.

Orchid Wedding Centerpieces: Pick the Stems

To get the orchid stems, you can either talk with a local florist or look online. There are a number of flower growers that grow exclusively orchids and will ship them to you in bulk. This would probably be the best option if you will need a lot of orchid centerpieces for your wedding reception, or if each centerpiece will contain a number of stems.

If you are going for a simpler look or a smaller wedding, I would recommend just buying the orchid stems from a local florist. If you do this, you should order ahead to make sure they will have them in stock when you need them.

Orchid Wedding Centerpieces: Vases or Containers

You will need something in which to arrange your orchids, and the type of container depends on the look you are trying to get. A very elegant orchid centerpiece can be made with just one stem in a small vase. If you are looking to get more creative wedding centerpieces, you can experiment with putting the stems in bowls, or including other elements in larger vases, such as ribbons, filler greenery, and other blooms.

Orchid Wedding Centerpieces: Supplies

The supplies you will need depend heavily on what kind of centerpieces you are making. If you are doing simple centerpieces, you will only need vases and orchids, along with a pair of scissors to trim the stems with a fresh cut before putting the centerpieces together.

One item that really comes in handy when you are looking to make your centerpieces fancier is ribbon. A length of ribbon tied around the neck of the vase into a pretty bow with long ends hanging down almost all the way to the table will go a long way in its classiness factor. Sheer or silky ribbons are best for this, in either the color of the orchids or a complementary color that goes well with your wedding color scheme.

Craft stores provide an abundance of other options for centerpiece supplies, from long curly glittery embellishments to wedding-specific centerpiece decorations. If your wedding is themed around something, you can include that in your centerpieces (like small silver bells, or fairy tale elements).

Orchid Wedding Centerpieces: Assembling and Packing

The last step to making your own orchid centerpieces for your wedding reception is assembling and packing them. They should be assembled no sooner than the night before the wedding, to ensure that everything is fresh. An assembly-line method is best, to make sure that each centerpiece gets all the elements and has a consistent look with the rest of them.

To transport the centerpieces to the reception, you will need a number of open-top boxes to hold the vases. Newspaper or towels stuffed between them will help them to stay in place during the drive and not run into each other or tip over. Then you can unload them and add them to the centers of your beautiful wedding reception tables.