Calla Lily Centerpieces

Calla lily centerpieces are ideal for many different occasions; a formal dinner, lunch with friends, Christmas and Thanksgiving, and of course they are really popular for weddings. We’ll get to those later, but meantime lets look at the reasons many people find calla lilies to be the perfect flower.

The flowers have two major characteristics, apart from their classic beauty.

1. The stems, if treated carefully, will bend gracefully, allowing the flower to be placed inside a glass container and making the stem a part of the arrangement. Here’s an example of a modern twist on a Thanksgiving centerpiece where Leanne, from the Floral Design Institute, shows just how you bend those calla lily stems, and how effective it can be.

2. The flowers come in two sizes, mini callas are small flowers, ideal for bouquets, but full sized callas are tall and large, ideal for showy centerpieces.

Centerpieces with Calla Lilies and Hydrangeas

Calla lilies are in many ways a classic flower, they are very stylish, but because of that they have slightly ‘hard’ edge. To create an altogether softer feel in an arrangement, combine your calla lilies with a more ‘cottagey’ flower, such as hydrangeas.

Centerpieces with Calla Lilies and Roses

Roses will also soften calla lilies and give a nice change of texture. If you’re lucky you may find some with a subtle scent, ideal for a centerpiece. White roses allow a change of texture, but keep that wonderful ‘all white’ look, and are ideal with white callas and some metallic accents, for winter brides.

Centerpieces with Calla Lilies and Orchids

When it comes to sophistication, there’s no better combination than calla lilies and orchids, but be careful with scale. Full size calla lilies are big flowers, while oncidium orchids are small flowers. Nothing beats the contrast thought, and an overam bouquet of yellow calla lilies with bicicolor oncidium orchids is spectacular. The same can be said for centerpieces, but if your are low, and don’t use the arching branches of the orchids, consider using larger flowers, like phaleonopsis or, if you can get them, my favorites, cattleya orchids, which are always spectacular.

Calla Lily Centerpieces for Weddings

If you’re lucky enough to have a calla lily wedding bouquet, then it’s likely you’ll want to use them same flowers in your table centerpieces. There are so many ways to use these flowers for weddings, and many are very economical, requiring only a few stems and a vase for each table.  Most brides would love to have the extravagant look of top floral designers, but are constrained by budget. Here are some ideas which I think are outstanding, and some of those, if you study them carefully, could be very instructive.

Look closely at the huge silk calla lily arrangement. The height comes from two things, tall, bare branches which form part of the arrangement, and the container, a black fishbowl style on a stand. With a little ingenuity you can find a tall container like this, and bare branches are NOT expensive.  There are around 6 large size calla lilies in the top half of the arrangement, and 10 or so stems of oncidium orchids in the middle, with a couple of stems of phaleonopsis orchids at the front. Add some assorted greenery, and well, it wouldn’t be cheap, but it certainly would be achievable.

For something more colorful, you need look no further than deep orange calla lilies with seeded eucalytpus

Calla Lily Centerpieces – Submerged in Water!

For budget brides, one of the most interesting ways to use calla lilies is submerged in water. The water acts as a lens and makes the flower larger. Don;t forget to add some sort of filler at the bottom of your vase for interest, or add a submersible led in an appropriate color. These can be bought in bulk and are not expensive.

Prices for Calla Lily Centerpieces

The price of a calla lily centerpiece will very from florist to florist. The flowers are not unduly expensive when compared, for example to orchids or hydrangeas. When it comes to silk flowers, you can buy bouquets of 12 stems of real touch calla lilies (some of the less realistic types are cheaper, but not very nice) from between $19 and $25. These are about the right size for a bridesmaids bouquet, for a bride, buy some inexpensive foliage, or two/three bouquets and put them together. You can always combine silk flowers with real foliage, as I did in my wedding bouquet. For large silk calla lilies you’re probably looking at around $8 per stem, but check the length. The longer the stem, the more expensive the flowers. Do you really need long stems?

When it comes to fresh flowers, I get mine from fiftyflowers.com. They have a very large selection of mini calla lilies available in different configurations for around $3-$4 a stem.  You can also buy fresh calla lily centerpieces (12 lilies and 6 stems of greenery) for around $18, though this does not include the vase, but they are easy to find, you can buy them in bulk along with lots of other supplies from amazon. When it comes to a florist, I know I had problems, my wedding was very small, the hotel were providing flower for the table, and all I had to order was my own bouquet. Fortunately the florist I found was happy to do that, and the result, a cresent of cream orchids and dark red freesias, was absolutely gorgeous.   There are florists who will not consider a bridal order for less than $1000, the most inexpensive centerpiece I found was $20 for a floating candle with rose petals, while many were around the $100 mark and a lot more. While it’s not very helpful, I’d say the price could be anywhere between $35 and $350 for a floral centerpiece.

When you get an estimate from a florist, you may find the initial quotes don’t include tax, delivery and setup. These can make a big difference to the cost.  There’s nothing you can do to avoid the tax, but if you can get someone to collect the arrangements and set them on tables, you can save a lot.

Calla lilies, with their showy blooms, flexible stems and gorgeous colors are fabulous bridal flowers. You can make a table center from a very small number of blooms, or you can go to town with hundreds, it’s down to what you like and the size of your budget.

 

Pictures of Calla Lily Centerpieces

Here are some more rather unusual, but interesting calla lily centerpieces.

Order excellent quality Wholesale Calla Lilies from Fifty Flowers