If you had to choose between dendrobium and cymbidiums, I would vote for the cymbidium. Cyms typically have the following advantages as single-flower decorations: 1. Longer staying power. They tend to stay fresh longer than dends. Perhaps because the flower itself has more mass that it is able to store more water and sugar to keep it "alive" longer compared to the flimsy dendrobium. 2. Bigger single flowers. Most, if not all commercial cymbidiums outsize a single dendrobium flower. 3. Color selection - from personal experience, commercial cutflower vendors have more color/variety selections for cyms than dends. Cattleyas are also an excellent candidate for corsages for the ladies. For the gentlemen, I would not go bigger than a cymbidium for the boutonnieres.

We did this for our own wedding too. We purchased different kinds of orchids from a Trader Joe's store (they could not convince me to use my own orchids hehehe). Besides, I own mostly cymbidiums and no on in their right mind will use a full size mature cymbidium for centerpieces for wedding guest tables. They will occupy the entire table :) We also bought some woven baskets from an arts & crafts store and used them to house the orchids in the center of the tables. The baskets are just a bit bigger than the orchid pots so we had room to put in some extra decorations like ribbons and other cut branches from other plants in our gardens. But even bare, the orchids in a crafted basket looks great. Since we bought different kinds of orchids, each table was unique. And the guests decided to refer to their tables by the orchid names instead of the table numbers. "We are at the purple dendrobium table over there." It also made it easier for them to find their tables after they move about. But it must have been a psychedelic experience for those who had one too many drinks. And since they were not my orchids, we decided to raffle off the centerpieces to the guests at the end of the evening. Even after several years, some of our friends would tell us that the orchids they brought home from the wedding are still doing well. And since we bought them in bloom for the wedding, they bloom around our wedding anniversary too. And I think that is neat. They see the orchids bloom and they are reminded of our wedding :)

Congratulations! We had orchids as our table centerpieces for our wedding too. We just dressed them up in baskets and added some ribbons and other materials. It took us about 3 hours to prepare 30 or so orchids for each table. The local florist would have charged us up to $1000.00 to do this, so we just did it ourselves with some help and some supplies from the art store. Since the orchids are live plants, we were able to prepare them two days in advance without risk of the flowers wilting, compared to cut flowers which pretty much have to be prepared that very morning. Unless all your guests are orchid enthusiasts who can easily read and remember orchid names, I would suggest that 1.) You have ushers who can lead the guests to the tables. The ushers would be prepped and should know where the orchid-tables are. or 2.) Keep the table numbers and include the number markers to the orchid arrangement so that they blend together as one piece. This will let the guests enjoy the orchids as well as easily identify their tables.

Remove them from the glass containers and repot them in clay or baskets using a nice open potting medium. The renantera really needs to be in basket so it roots can develop normally. Whatever you do, do not add more water to the plants if the sphagnum is still wet. You will rot the roots.