How to Set a Table for Formal Dinning

Setting a table for a formal dining experience can be very rewarding, particularly if your guests comment on the arrangement. It is important to match your food choices to the type of dining experience that you will have, so a formal dinner will consist of formal food choices, as opposed to a buffet-type dinner. Select a linen tablecloth with matching cloth napkins and an elegant centerpiece to complete the arrangement for your formal dining experience. Does this Spark an idea?

Instructions

1

Allow 24 inches for each place setting for a formal dining experience. Place a dinner plate in the middle of the 24-inch area, with service plate in the center of the dinner plate and a soup or salad bowl in the center of the service plate. A bread and butter plate with a butter knife across it should be placed at the top-left of the dinner plate. All of the dishes should match exactly or complement one another nicely.

2

Place the following silverware to the left of the dinner plate in the following order: dinner fork, salad fork and cocktail fork. On the right side of the dinner plate, arrange the following silverware in this order: steak knife with cutting edge facing the plate, fish knife, soup spoon and teaspoon. If you aren't serving a particular course, you can leave the silverware for that course off and shift the remaining silverware so there isn't a gap.

3

Add a drinking glass directly above the silverware on the right side of the plate, and a wine glass to the right of the drinking glass. If you are serving different types of wine, the glasses should be arranged in this order, over the silverware to the right of the dinner plate: drinking glass, red wine glass, white wine glass and champagne flute. Bring a coffee cup and saucer out at the end of the meal, when coffee or tea is served.

4

Fold the cloth napkins. Lay the napkin in front of you and fold it in half diagonally, then turn the napkin with the long side to the left. Pull the far corner of the napkin down to the right to form a set of two points, a few inches apart. The top crease should be about 1 1/2 inches below the upper-right corner. Bring the upper-right corner down to create a third point at the bottom. Tuck the napkins into the soup bowl or the wine glass for an elegant look.