POSH 101: Setting the Table for the Holidays

You have the menu, the playlist, and even the outfit, so what's left on your list? Setting the table, of course. The holidays call for a well-adorned tabletop, and we have a quick cheat sheet on how to make your formal dinner place setting shine. How are you setting the table this year? Send us your pictures at showroom@poshcouturerentals.com.

Tabletop: Gold Florentine Charger / Gold Scroll Dinner and B&B Plates / Gold Leaf Salad Plate, Compote, Tea Cup and Saucer / Gold Lyons Flatware / Gold Scroll Goblet / Gold Lace Champagne Flute / Amber Goblet, all P.O.S.H. Couture Rentals // Linen: Gold Beaded Tulle with Gold Nu Silk from Resource One, exclusively at P.O.S.H. Couture Rentals.

The number one rule of holiday tabletops? Use the good china - that is what it's there for after all. Use heirloom pieces and wedding or holiday china and supplement our personal collections with our couture pieces for a shimmering tabletop guests will not soon forget. 

Most of us don't use a formal place setting on a daily basis, so these tips should have you feeling confident that your tabletop looks perfectly posh. Brush up on these essentials and then apply or break them as needed for your event or dinner.

1. Flatware begins with forks on the left and knives and spoons on the right, starting with the smaller utensil and working towards the plate. The easiest way to remember? Your ABC's. Forks (F) on the left, then knifes (K) and spoons (S) on the right.
2. For a less formal dinner, the dessert spoon and fork may be placed above the dinner plate. The spoon above the fork lined up with opposite ends - fork pointing right, spoon left.
3. The napkin is placed on the dinner plate. There are several ways to fold or gather the napkin, so be creative.
4. Glassware always goes on the right. This is easy to remember if you have a bread plate with the same ABC's game. Bread (B) is on the left; glassware (G) on the right. Line up the water goblet with the knife with the white wine glass or goblet on the right. A red wine glass would go right above both to form a triangle.
5. The tea cup and saucer are placed slightly below and to the right of the glassware.
6. The china is the fun part! Begin the foundation with a couture charger and layer dinner, salad, bread plate and their chargers. A demitasse, amuse bouche, or compote dish can also be placed on top.