VIDEO: The etiquette for how to set a table for a wedding or dinner party

How to Decorate Tables for Weddings -- powered by eHow.com

Although the ideas I showed in the video were designed for a fairly simple wedding dinner, the same principles would work for any formal dinner party.

Below you will discover what you would need to do for a more complex dinner.

If you were serving bread with the meal, a bread plate would go to the top left of the plate in alignment with the glasses.

If salad is served, the salad plate would be put on top of the dinner plate. After the salad was finished, the salad plate, salad fork and dinner plate would be removed and a new dinner plate would be placed when the entree was served.

When soup is on the menu, the soup bowl is placed on a smaller luncheon plate which is then placed on the dinner plate. Bowls are never placed without another plate under them. The soup spoon would be placed to the right of the teaspoon. Once finished, the bowl, luncheon plate and dinner plate and soup spoon would be removed.

Whether the charger plate remains in place for all of the courses is a choice you and your caterer can make. It is always removed, however, before dessert is served and, in fact, generally after the first course.

Although it is unusual to place the dessert fork and spoon on the table at the beginning of the meal (often because of space constraints), if you choose to do so, they are placed at the center of the place setting about four to six inches above and perpendicular to the dinner plate and charger. The fork's handle would face to the left while the teaspoon's handle would face to the right. The spoonwould be placed directly under the dessert fork. This way the fork and spoon can simply be grabbed by their handles and placed to the left (fork) and right (spoon) of the dessert plate.

With these simple steps you can set a table that would impress any etiquette maven (and your mother-in-law!).

Many thanks to Panache, a Classic Party Rental Company, for use of their lovely linens and other rentals. You can find a Classic Party Rental Company in many parts of the country.

Bon appetit!