Alstroemeria and Rose Wedding Centerpiece

This is the first post in my Wedding Centerpieces and Bouquets series. I created an alstroemeria and rose centerpiece this week. I was shocked at how much flowers cost for a wedding and wanted to DIY my own centerpieces and bouquets. Also, I’ll always have fresh flowers in my house for the week! Decoration and research in one. For the first week, I went to Trader Joe’s and purchases orange/coral alstroemerias, white spray roses, and two types of greenery. I wanted my budget to stay around $15 per centerpiece or less. This purchase at Trader Joe’s probably could have made me two bouquets or one centerpiece. I am planning on buying the flowers in bulk from Sam’s Club which will also decrease the overall price.

Trader Joe’s Flowers – $15 total

Orange alstroemerias – $3.99, 9 stems
White spray roses – $4.99, 8 stems
Variegated Pittosporum (the green and white leaves) – $2.99, 4 stems
Myrtle (I think, the solid green greenery) – $2.99, 7 stems

I chose the orange alstroemerias first because I liked the color and look. Alstroemerias are a South American lily and are also knowns as the Peruvian lily or Lily of the Incas. I decided to add white spray roses to complement the orange color. I think a deep red color would also have gone well with this arrangement. Finished it off with two types of greenery. After some online searching, I think the greenery I bought are variegated pittosporum and myrtle. The pot is something I already had lying around. It was very inexpensive from IKEA, maybe around $5.

When I first put the centerpiece together the alstroemerias weren’t fully open and made the centerpiece a bit droopy looking. However, once they opened up a bit it definitely made the arrangement look a lot better. The roses looked great immediately and they felt sturdier than the alstroemerias. The alstroemerias also came with a lot of leaves on the stems. I didn’t remove them but I probably would remove some leaves if I bought alstroemerias in the future. The leaves of the alstroemerias hid the flowers if you placed them a certain way. For the greenery, I really liked the variegated pittosporum. The white outline of the leaves makes the entire wedding centerpiece and bouquet more interesting.

Overall, I don’t think I would buy the alstroemerias again even though they are pretty. It took about a day or so for them to fully open. I will keep the spray roses and the variegated pittosporum in the running. I also like the myrtle, although I don’t think it did much for this particular wedding centerpiece due to the leaves on the alstroemerias. I’m excited to see what flowers I’ll find at the store next week!