Description:
It may be a rare day when you set out your best china, silver, and crystal for entertaining, but it's probably a special one when you'll want everything to look its best. Classic Entertaining serves as a guide to those more elegant occasions when nothing but the finest will do. More than two dozen elegantly laid tables are shown in the book's full-color photographs. Close-up photos magnify the details of the place settings, linens, and centerpieces. Classic Entertaining's settings for this finery are grand--a Georgian dining room, a Tudor manor house, and a picnic on the grounds of a Normandy chateau. Even if you can't quite match these settings in your own home, the table settings and decorations are inspiring. The best dishes and linens are used, and author Henrietta Spencer-Churchill provides instruction on place setting and serving etiquette, as well as the historical meaning behind the rules of etiquette. Spencer-Churchill demonstrates how a room shapes the look and formality of the event--whether the entertaining is done in a dining room, a conservatory, or a loft apartment. The event itself changes the tone as well: a formal dinner or lunch looks very different from more casual occasions such as brunch and afternoon tea. In the last chapter of the book, rooms are decorated and tables set to celebrate the major holidays, such as Easter brunch and Christmas lunch. A directory at the back of the book explains what to look for in china, glassware, and other table setting pieces, and provides sources for the items pictured in the book. The emphasis in Classic Entertaining is on creating a sophisticated setting for entertaining, and the book provides ample instruction and visual inspiration for a number of different occasions. You may be tempted to bring out the china more often when you see how elegant classic entertaining can look. --Kris Law
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