- A formal dinner place setting typically includes a tablecloth or placemats, napkin, dinner plate, salad plate or soup bowl, dessert plate, small spoon, teaspoon, soup spoon, salad fork, dinner fork, dessert spoon or fork, bread knife, dinner knife, water glass and wineglass. Some may also include a charger plate, bread plate, coffee cup and saucer, cocktail fork and a liqueur glass.
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Begin by covering the table with a cloth or setting out placemats for each place setting. Placemats are more casual, while tablecloths are more formal. For an informal setting, napkins can be placed on top of the plates or to the left of the forks. For a formal setting, they are usually placed immediately above the dinner plate or inside a glass.
If place cards are being used for a formal setting, they should be placed immediately above the napkin or to the left of the glassware. - If a charger plate is used, it goes first. If not, the dinner plate goes on the bottom, positioned two inches from the table's edge. Directly on top of the dinner plate goes the salad plate or soup bowl, whichever course is being served first. The bread plate, with a butter knife on top, goes above the dinner plate, slightly to the left. If coffee is being served, the cup and saucer should be placed above the dinner plate slightly to the right. Dessert plates are brought along with dessert.
- The water glass sits slightly to the right of the cup and saucer. The wineglass sits to its right, followed by a liqueur glass, if needed.
- Silverware is set with the first utensil to be used closest to the plate. The other silverware is arranged in order of use, working outward. The handles should line up evenly with one another, about an inch from the table's edge. To the right of the dinner plate goes the dinner knife, turned with the cutting side facing the dinner plate. The teaspoon and soupspoon follow in that order, with a cocktail fork, if one is being used. To the dinner plate's left goes the salad fork followed by the dinner fork. If a dessert fork or spoon is included, they go directly above the dinner plate in that order. The tines of the fork should point one direction, while the spoon base points in the other.
