I apol­o­gize that my post is going to be short and sweet. I fell and injured my right arm and shoul­der, (I’ll be fine in a week, just a sprain) there­fore I am lim­ited on my typ­ing, photo tak­ing, etc…

Many peo­ple won­der how to set a table prop­erly. Below is a very detailed chart of the proper way to set a table. Above is how I like to do things, a lit­tle more sim­ple and customized.

My Way:

• Print a menu of the evenings din­ner. (so fun and special)
• Choose a nap­kin like my funky yel­low flo­ral one for a great backdrop.
• Use square plates instead of round to make it more mod­ern and inter­est­ing. (keep it white though)
• I love using black and white pho­tographs to make it per­son­al­ized when­ever I can. I printed a photo of the cou­ple whose anniver­sary we were cel­e­brat­ing and attached it to the menu with a clothes­pin. Whim­si­cal and practical.
• Use the clothes­pin as your place card as well by writ­ing the guest name on it. So easy and unique.
• Search your gar­den (or your sis­ters , like I did) to find great things like suc­cu­lents to dec­o­rate the table. No flo­ral smells that might inter­fere with the won­der­ful aro­mas of din­ner or  guests aller­gies, will be present with suc­cu­lents. (hopefully)

More table set­ting pho­tographs from this event here.

Print cheat sheet here.

Tips to help you remem­ber include:

• The bread plate goes to the left of the plate—touching your index fin­ger and thumbs together, your left hand forms a “b” shape for bread.
• To the right of the plate should be the knife and spoon—both have five let­ters, just like the word “right.” On the left, four let­ters, is the fork area.
• The knife will point to the water glass, with wine glasses to the right.