table setting: the cheat sheet

With the holidays coming, I thought it would be a good idea to talk a little about place settings.  This diagram below shows the traditional place setting.  Whether or not your place setting will have all of the pieces shown below, or you're going to have a more simplified version, this is a guideline for where to put everything.

A – Napkin
B – Dinner Plate
C – Soup Bowl on Plate
D – Bread and Butter Plate with Butter Knife
E – Water Glass
F – White Wine
G – Red Wine
H – Fish Fork
I – Dinner Fork
J – Salad Fork
K – Dinner Knife
L – Fish Knife
M – Soup Spoon
N – Dessert Spoon and Fork

Note: It is often recommended that the salad fork (J) is placed to the left of the dinner fork (I). However, in this formal setting the dinner fork is placed before the salad fork because it is suggested that the guest waits for the main meal before helping him/herself to the salad.