For a formal place setting, forks will be to the left of the plates and first the knives and then the spoon(s) to the right. The cutting edge of the knife blade must always be toward the plate (one wouldn’t want to cut the butler!). Remember, you should not have more than three implements of the same kind on the table at any time. If you plan to have more than three courses, it is helpful to bring, for instance, the salad knives and forks to the table along when you serve the salad. Dessert flatware and dinnerware is often brought to the table for the first time with the dessert course, which helps to eliminate unnecessary clutter. Place all flatware and dinnerware approximately one inch from the border of the table.
The order in which you place the flatware implements is dictated by the order in which they will be used, with the implements you’ll need first being the furthest from the plates.
Napkins should lie on the plate unless the first course is already placed in the plates when your guests arrive. In that case, you can place the napkin by the forks on the left of the table setting. Water glasses should be placed in an orderly arrangement on the right and in front of the plates, arranged in order of dimension or in the order they will be used. The main rule here is to remember to always place the water glass on the left of the other glasses. The basic glasses for a formal dinner are water, red wine, white wine, champagne flute and maybe sherry. A butter or bread dish is acceptable and, if used, should lie in front and on the left of the table setting.
Since smoking is not generally appreciated by all guests you should not place ashtrays on the table and guests should be encouraged to refrain from smoking until they leave the dining room.
In conclusion, even if setting a formal table can be daunting, following this simple table setting etiquette rules can help greatly. For more ideas, please enjoy these pictures of formal table setting we collected in Italy: formal table setting 1, formal table setting 2.
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