Setting a Formal Dinning Table...Do you?!
Setting a Formal Dinning Table...Do you?
I just wondered how many of you set a fornal dinning table using formal dinner ware?
Answers: To set a formal table really requires a great deal of planning. Like the young lady said, there is no bread and butter plate ... actually no butter either. The dinner roll is placed directly on the table or table cloth to show everything is clean, etc. However, I still do what I call informal formality complete with the damask cloth, bread and butter plates, a charger (service plate) and providing I can afford someone at the time to serve, dinner plates with of the charger, water goblet and depending on what I'm serving a red wine glass and/or white wine glass. Always a full compliment of silverware.Note, if I have a server, a salad plate/appetizer is placed on top with the charger/salad plate being removed before the entree. Then, it goes on & on. I wish I could lay my hands on it but there is an excellent book on proper serving. It will tell you everything needed to know. Source(s):
My grandmother, mother, years of practice and the book I just mentioned ... which name I can't remember. Hardly anyone sets a formal table anymore. I do use good china and tablecloths and such on occasion, but a formal table has no bread plate and I always have one of those on there. I just don't have a very formal lifestyle. I do at Christmas only. I set a formal dining table for the special holidays or birthdays. It's a good excuse to get out the good china and silverware and crystal. Like Dottie I use it for special occasions such as Christmas, birthdays, Valentine's etc. I have to say, though, that my dinnerware does not come with chargers and with butter plates (I grew up in a country where butter is not served with bread...) + I don't have silverware - so it doesn't look terribly formal/sophisticated. It doesn't need a great deal of planning, as long as you have a good dishwasher with a delicate wash cycle... Every day, though, for dinner, I enjoy setting the table with a nice cotton table cloth and napkins. It's a good way to ... reconnect with my husband. I use a heavier china set for that (Ikea type).