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Well, I tried! Setting the Dining Table in a formal way can be tricky – at least for me! My English husband usually does it tbh and I just follow along. But this time I tried it on my own…. oh dear! So I think I’ll go back to casually setting the table – one plate, one glass, one fork, one knife and maybe a spoon!

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PS: The tea dress I’m wearing is from www.instagram.com/ronnerdesign

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36 Comments

  1. Haha… get paper plates, but the good sturdy chinet brand..and red solo cups. And of course an all purpose spork

  2. It depends on how dinner will be served, as to how the table is set. Will servants be serving? French style, English, American?
    That’s the first thing to know. If you are cooking and serving yourself, you keep the dishes in the kitchen, lay out the cutlery, and know where the dishes go when they are brought in containing the food.

  3. Very entertaining. I know it is a spoof because, after so many years of living in England, and eating every day, you SURELY know how to set the table correctly.

  4. Priceless! Your husband is an awesome person. You are such a lucky lady to have met this wonderful human. Love it. ❤❤

  5. I can see the vicount os so experienced. I reacted the same way when he said " okay we gonna dismantle everything…." 🙄🙄🇿🇲👍

  6. I love how there can be very specific dishes for foods .. a consume bowl is different than soup bowl 🤯. I think this kind of etiquette is something you need to be born into and learn by osmosis, by simply being there. That’s why the husband isn’t a very good teacher, because he doesn’t have to think about it. It’s like breathing to him. I could happily learn this stuff for hours and never have an application for using it lol.

  7. Those crescent plates are a mystery to me. My Victorian neighbour when I was growing up. had them, but I think they were for "trash" (Can't think of a nice way of putting that, but pips, stones, peel etc.. Don't pile up dishes, you have to pretend you have oceans of servants (a trick our mothers had to learn in the first and second world wars!)
    Dishes have to be served at the time of serving. Napkins on the right, forks follow each other round, Use cutlery from outside in . Carry glasses separately , not on a tray where they touch each other and could fall over. My kids have Waterford but we buy cheepy cheap as they inevitably get broken…witness MY near disaster last week at my son's house !
    Fortunately only a porcelain plate broke and not the wine glass !
    My daughter in law is American so table laying is quite an art of cross enculturation. I really think one should be free to do whatever one is comfortable with.
    It seems to me to be quite sensible to have proper salad forks as in America, but British canteens don't have them. Table mats are horrid, but everyone seems to use them now. A mat under hot plates is acceptable, though. DON"T Google..do what YOU want and Google doesn't know anthing !
    All this goes out of the window in France where every course is served separately on small plates. We have to buy "chargers' from nearby Limoges to get a decent sized plate because we vulgar Brits pile everything on one plate ! Napkins also would cover a small table and the monogram is in the centre. There is a way of fancy folding them online , a course in table laying by a Comtesse or someone, but I can't find it again. I fold them in three lengthways and three again , just like altar linens, purificators, which leaves the monogram on the top.

    Family meals in France have linens in a little purse with initials on them to cut down on laundry. I am a freak so I launder them when they are used but we have silver napkin rings for the family dinners….but they are absolutely 'Non U' for dinners with guests.

    Don't forget, you are an American…people will forgive you anything and you bring your culture (not lacking in formalities and customs of its own ) to enrich Britain. As I said somewhere else ,that although spitting your grape pips on the ceiling is not always culturally acceptable, good manners are not set in stone but rather in the kindness and courtesy shown to fellow guests or family.

  8. I live in the USA, but my parents have English ancestors; so table setting was passed down the generations, as well as the carving of the meat. In my family we fold the napkin in half and place it under the fork; alternately, it is folded like a bishop's hat and placed in the water goblet. We don't use both red and white wine unless we are serving a fish or chicken course AND a main course with beef. Usually, it is one of the other for family dinners. We also use the silverware from the outside to the inside. Soup would be served in a wide shallow soup bowl and placed on top of the dinner plate. Salad might be next, so the salad plate is placed underneath the soup bowl. The dinner plate is, of course, at the bottom of the stack. Dessert (pudding) is served separately after everyone is finished and the plates have been cleared; so the dessert fork is not included in the dinner setup.

  9. Julie, I just LOVE your dress!!!! You did an amazing job setting the table! Beautiful! I use to work in Banquets years ago and I never got place settings right, either! I'd always ask the supervisor to set one place setting for a visual! 😆. Too many items to remember!!!!! Don't be too hard on yourself!!!! Luke, you're too critical! She tried her best!!!! That's what counts!

  10. This has to be an act. She is “titled” as a Lady Viscount and she can’t set a table. “Is this a salad plate?” Really? I hope it is an act and she is not really this inept. Has she never watched Downton Abbey? Even Lady Mary would know what a salad plate is!! Has the Lady never been to a nice restaurant? Nicer than McDonald’s?this is hard to stomach. Let me ask my valet for an aspirin. That is after he is done shinning my shoes, belt and watch!! Oh well

  11. Julie, do you mean to tell us you've been living in England, with Luke, for decades and you've never noticed how the table was set????

  12. Golly! I saw you bring that tray in with all that beautiful dinnerware and all I could think of was “Pleasedon’tdropitPleasedon’tdropitPleasedon’tdropitPleasedon’tdropit!”
    I love setting the table, I learned as a child from my grandmother. I have my great grandmother’s chine but I haven’t nearly all those pieces.

  13. Aren’t the crescent shaped plates a “fish bone” plate (for discarding bones on while eating fish)? I inherited a set of six beautiful white and purple flower plates like them from my great grandmother and was always told that was the purpose of them. I’d love to know for sure.

  14. I love this lady! She reminds me of me- but I am not aristocracy! We own and live in an historic residence and t is a joy- although it is ALOT SMALLER than Julie's :)…. You remind me of me, Julie- personality, perfection-driven, fun along the way! LOVE your videos! Suscribed!!! I just found you! LOVE your fantastic residence! Your husband looks so nice, too, like you are! Kimberly ! & Larry!

  15. For Julie, the Viscountess, please stop saying "for my husband and I". It's for my husband and ME. Just as you would say 'for ME' and not 'for I'. The object pronoun ME is used after any preposition such as 'for'. This lady makes this mistake often. Very well for learning to set up a table, but poor use of English grammar, both in the US as in Britain. Maybe her husband can give her a hand in that too.

  16. Well if u all are watching the CUBS PLAY then just set the beer cooler near the table then set out the hot dog baskets then set out a cold bottle of beer and a bowl of chips HUBBA HUBBA u are ready to watch the CUBS KNOCK A BALL OUT OF THE PARK

  17. Oh beans no need for fancy napkins just a few extra shop rags is ok but do put a CUBS BALL CAP OVER EACH PLACE SETTING

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