Tips on how to set a formal table, including china, glassware and silverware placement. A perfect table setting is one of the many factors that will ensure the success of your next formal dinner.
You have mailed invitations and your guests have responded. You have created elegant place cards. Your menu is set. Now is the time to bring out your finest china, your most elegant tablecloth, and your treasured silverware.
If renting or using your own china, keep this in mind. Typically, white or off-white is preferred at formal dinners. However, if all your main course choices are white, such as chicken, fish, or pork, then be sure to select contrasting vegetables; otherwise, the arrangement will look washed out.
A formal dinner requires no more than six courses, including coffee, and three courses are acceptable. Possible serving items that you will need include:
-Service plate
-Appetizer plate
-Shellfish plate
-Soup or fruit plate
-Soup or fruit bowl
-Entrée plate
-Salad plate
-Dessert plate
-Butter plate
-Coffee cup and saucer
-Individual salt and pepper shakers
Utensils will be required to go with each of the above. Have extras available for replacement. Not all of your sterling has to match. Utensils presented with the course - i.e., the coffee and spoon or the dessert plate - can be a different pattern.
Butter plates, which also hold the bread, are the only dishes to be set on the tablecloth other than the service plate. The service plate should remain in place until the main course arrives.
Your table setting will contain an appropriate centerpiece that does not obstruct any guest's view. A decorative serving dish holding fruits is acceptable in its place. Unobtrusive salt and pepper shakers may be present if individual cellars are not used. Never require your guests to reach for a condiment. Have at least two shaker sets conveniently placed on the table for small groups and more for a larger setting. Keep all other serving dishes in the kitchen or on a serving cart after passing them around the table.
If you choose not to hire extra help for a formal sit-down dinner, there are alternatives. You can serve heavy hors d'oeuvres and pre-entrée foods during cocktails or in any room in which the guests mingle. Then, all that is left is bringing the main course to the table just before your guests take their seats. It is not entirely improper to set up an elegant side table to hold the plates and utensils for additional courses along with the coffee urn and tea service.
The proper cloth should be your finest lace or damask heirloom. The napkins should match the tablecloth and are always folded precisely and loosely in a rectangle. If you have a beautiful table and choose not to hide it, then you can use an appropriately elegant runner and matching placemats.
Place the napkin on the service plate with the place card resting on top.
The following place setting suggestions will complement this menu:
-Soup or fruit
-Fish course
-Entrée with salad
-Dessert
-Coffee
Place forks to the left and in the order of the courses, but never more than three across. If additional silverware for a course is required, bring it out with the appropriate dish and remove the used utensils.
You may be accustomed to eating a salad before the main course, but a true formal dinner requires salad service afterward. Modern times have allowed for change, however, and a host may wish to serve the salad before, if the guests are accustomed to such. The salad fork will be placed either immediately to the left of the entrée fork or to the right and next to the plate, depending on when the salad is served. The fish fork will be at the outside. If you are serving shellfish, a small fork is required and it will be the only fork placed to the right side of the dinner plate.
On the right side of the service plate, place the knives with toothed edges facing inward. In order, they will be entrée, salad, and fish (or salad first if this course is served after the main dish). Outside this grouping, place the soup or fruit spoon and then the oyster fork. If serving an appetizer at the table, that utensil is placed to the far outside, but no more than three knives should be present at any one time.
Position the service plate and utensils exactly one inch from the table's edge. Each complete setting should be an exact distance all the way around the table with enough room for each guest to eat comfortably.
Place the butter plate at the tip of the fork closest to the service plate. Lay the bread knife on the top rim with the sharper side facing the plate's center. The handle should be closest to the service plate.
Glassware is placed according to size and is lined up beginning at the tip of the inside knife. Place each taller glass diagonally and at the tips of the knives designated for the course that fits the wine selection. You may have the water glass closest to the plate, then the sherry glass tucked in between the white wine or champagne goblet followed by the glass for red wine.
You can now greet your guests with confidence, relax, and enjoy a perfect meal.
