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Placemats protect the surface of your table from food and brighten up your dining experience. Make sure the edge of the placemat is about an inch away from the edge of the table. Choose a placemat that matches your plates and looks nice on your tabletop as well. When in doubt, choose a simple white placemat. A casual dining experience can include a soup or salad as an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert. First, place the large main entree plate on the bottom center of the placemat. Next, place your salad plate or soup bowl on top of the main entree plate. The napkin can be placed between the entree plate and the appetizer plate or rolled up on top of the appetizer plate. If you're serving dinner rolls, place a small appetizer plate to the left of the placemat. The dessert plates should be brought in with the dessert for casual dining experiences. The forks will be placed on the left side of the plate and the knife and spoon on the right. Place the salad fork (if needed) to the left of the dinner fork and place the spoon to the right of the knife. If you want to set out dessert utensils, place them above the plate. The sharp side of the knife should be turned towards the plate. Only set the table with silverware that you will use during the meal. Place the water glass above the knife on the placemat. If you're planning on serving wine, place the wine glass to the left of the water glass and off the placemat. If you'd like to offer more than one wine, add other wine glasses behind the first in a triangle formation. Most casual dining experiences only offer one kind of wine. If you have more than one kind of wine to serve, consider hosting a formal dinner instead. Set aside your dessert plates in advance. Once you're ready to serve dessert, clear the dirty plates and distribute the dessert plates. If you're serving coffee, you can either bring out the coffee cups and saucers with the dessert or place them to the right of the water glass at the beginning of the meal. The dessert silverware can be brought in with the dessert plates or placed above the table setting at the beginning of the meal.
Set a placemat on the table. Arrange your plate and napkin. Place your silverware on the placemat. Arrange your drinkware. Plan for your desserts and coffee.