Wedding Centerpiece Ideas With Orchids

Orchids, those once-rare, exotic and fragile blooms, are tougher than they look. The colorful petals and graceful stalks hold up well without wilting, and they lend themselves to a variety of wedding colors and centerpiece configurations. Even a few orchids, mixed with less expensive flowers, add an elegant touch to reception decor. Feature them, in inventive ways, as the stars of your wedding centerpieces.

Wedding-Friendly Choices

• Some of the most suitable blooms for wedding centerpieces are also the most widely available orchids. According to American University, there are more than 25,000 different species of orchids and about 60,000 types of known orchid hybrids. Commercial growers focus on the ones most likely to sell, which has the happy side effect of lowering the cost for those orchids. “Bridal Guide” says the three most popular wedding choices are the wide-blooming “moth” orchid, or phalaenopsis, usually white; the dendrobium, which features smaller blooms clustered on stalks; and cymbidium, with its contrasting colorful throat.

Air Plants

• Orchids are epiphytes — they draw their sustenance from the air around them. So lift the reception centerpieces high — high enough so they don’t interfere with guests’ sightlines for table conversation — and create tall, flowing pedestals of flowers in their natural element, like a waterfall of blossoms. A 2-foot tall or higher silver or crystal flute might hold a pastel explosion of hydrangeas, roses and orchids. Phalaenopsis can be trained to trail as can several types of vanda orchid hybrids. The full, rounded top of the tall display, with its varied and fragrant flowers, should spill over in trailing strands of orchids that reach halfway to the tablecloth.

Wide and Wild

• The phalaenopsis is a regular guest at the wedding. The wide wings of the open flowers look like a giant moth in flight, so the plant acquired its popular name from its appearance. Moth orchids are showy and substantial enough for the medium-height centerpieces that are the focal points of buffet tables, sign-in tables, and some head tables that seat the bridal party. A curving strand of phalaenopsis is a spare and elegant contemporary counter to traditional flowers such as roses, stephanotis, peonies and hydrangeas. One or more stalks of creamy white blossoms can rise up from a crowded bowl or urn of mixed flowers. Individual moth orchids may be wired to low silver- or white-painted forked branches like an eclipse of moths momentarily alight.

Ground Cover

• Keep the centerpieces on the bistro-size guest tables low to encourage conversation and remain visible in the midst of buffet snacking and table-hopping. A serene wood or copper-clad platform, mounded with tiny balls of florists’ moss, has room for a few swirling grapevine strands stuck into the moss and one or two orchids nestled low in the centerpiece. Go for color, especially if your wedding is a vibrant fall or traditional holiday affair. Tangerine and sunset-orange cattleyas are startling against the green moss, reddish-brown platform and brown curling vine. A low round glass bowl with one lady slipper, moth orchid or cattleya floating in it is anchored by clear glass pebbles in the water that reflect candlelight. The flickers of light glimmer over the gently moving orchid.