Place Settings
- Dinner Plate, Salad Plate, Soup Bowl (stacked one on top of the other, with the dinner plate on the bottom)
- Right - Salad Fork, Fish Fork, Dinner Fork (start at the "end", work your way to the center where the dinner fork is)
- Left - Seafood Fork, Soup Spoon, Salad Knife, Fish Knife, Dinner Knife (start at the "end", work your way to the center where the dinner knife is)
- Above - Dessert Fork and Spoon
- Bread plate is always to the left
- Glasses are above, to the right, with the water glass toward the center, with the Champagne, Red Wine, White Wine, Sherry (Dessert)
The difference between American/British place setting versus that of the French/Continental placement is that the glasses will be above and center of the plates, and the tines of the fork and the spoon face downward.
Remember "B" and "D." Place the tip of your left hand thumb and forefinger together to make a circle. Straighten out your remaining fingers, and you'll see your hand forms a small letter "b." Do the same with your right hand, and it looks like a small letter "d." The "b" stands for the "b" in bread and indicates your bread plate is on the left. The "d" stands for drinks and indicates your drink glasses are on the right of your place setting.
If you are setting the table, how do you know which utensils go on the right and which on the left of the plate? It's easy. Remember the mnemonic FOrKS. The "O" stands for your plate. The "F" indicates the forks, which go to the left of the place setting. The "r" indicates that knives ("K") and spoons ("S") go next, in that order, to the right of the plate.
Amongst the Upper Crust of the Black Community, Cotillion Week is opportunity for a young woman who has reached the age of majority to be officially presented to society, as in she is suitable for marriage. It is no different than from a WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) Debutante Ball.