How to Set a Table for Formal Dining

Despite their formality, there is a logic to traditional table settings.

There's no absolutely right or wrong way to set your table for a formal dining experience; arrangements often vary from country to country and person to person. However, as a rule of thumb, remember in what order you will serve your courses and, in turn, in what order your guests will consume them. The utensils or flatware should correlate with each course, working their way from the outer reaches of the table setting in toward the plate as the meal progresses.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Tablecloth
• Napkins
• Service plates (large)
• Soup bowls
• Bread and butter plates (small)
• Butter knives
• Water glasses
• Wine glasses
• Salad forks (medium-sized)
• Dinner forks (large)
• Dessert forks (small)
• Knives
• Teaspoons (small)
• Soup spoons (large)
• Table runner, if desired
• Centerpiece, if desired

1. Align the chairs at your dinner table so that they are evenly spaced. Ideally, each chair will directly face another.

2. Lay out your table cloth, runner and centerpiece.

3. Place service plates directly in front of each chair. The edge of the plates should be one inch from the table's edge.

4. Center soup bowls on top of the service plates.

5. Starting from the left edges of the plates, lay out the dessert forks, the dinner forks and the salad forks, making sure to align their bottom edges with those of the plates. Again, you are moving left to right as you set out these utensils, from the plate edge out.

6. Starting from the right edges of the plates, lay out the knives (blade edges toward the plates), the teaspoons and the soup spoons, making sure to align their bottom edges with those of the plates. Remember to keep moving from right to left as you set them out.

7. Set the folded cloth napkins just to the left of the salad forks, again making sure to align the bottom edges.

8. Set the bread and butter plates immediately above the dinner forks. The butter knives should then be laid across the plates horizontally, their blade tips pointing left, their blade edges pointing down.

9. Set the water glasses above the dinner knives. The white wine glasses should be set to the right of the water glasses. Set the red wine glasses above and slightly between the other two glasses.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure your guests can make eye contact above the table's centerpiece(s).

References

• Butlers Guild: The Formal Dinner
• MarthaStewart.com: How to Set a Formal Dinner Table