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There was a time when "Dressing Your Table" for entertaining meant simply expressing yourself through the china, crystal, and decorations you presented to serve your dishes. But given the country's new mood, now it also means being more gracious than ever.

Lenox Les Saisons

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A Warmer Welcome | More (& Less) Formality | Individual Attention to Guests | Signature Dishes | Innovative Registry Building | Contact

A Warmer Welcome
"I think you can provide that increased level of comfort by giving greater attention to detail and making people feel especially welcome at the table," says Denise Dinyon, bridal and entertaining expert for Lenox Brands. "Often it’s simple things like adding candle lighting, which in recent months has become very important symbolically. I think you will see a lot more accents used in symbolic ways at the table."

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"It’s easy when you have your regular family members there. People just fall into place.

"But particularly if you have newcomers at the table, place cards become important. A lot of people are now extending themselves to others, to the community, and to a larger circle of friends.

"So when you bring those people into your home and to your table, things like place card holders make them feel welcome. They take away that added stress of knowing where to sit, and it makes newcomers feel they truly ‘have a place at the table.’ "

Place card holders also can add whimsy, elegance, or even intrigue. "There are lots of fun shapes and sizes. We have some that look like little butlers, some that are bouquets of flowers, some that are inspired by Williamsburg chairs."

You also can use place cards to help introduce your guests to each other. "If you have a group of people who don’t know each other well, for example, you can put their names on the front — and on the back you can write a piece of trivia about that person.

"So as you’re sitting across the table from one another you can read each other’s cards, which will help spark conversation and give people a frame of reference so they don’t feel awkward at the table.

"Family and friends have become so important to us that I also think you are going to see more people including children at the main table. I’ve always thought that’s a great idea anyway, because I don’t know how we expect our children to learn proper table manners and etiquette if we put them at a separate table."

Putting them at the main table makes them feel honored, and it makes them feel they are part of the family. "You’ll see more of that because people are really trying to keep the family together."

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More (and Less) Formality & Elegance
There has been a surge in the sale of engagement rings and weddings, as more people are saying, "Why wait?"

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"But by the same token, I think you are also going to see, on the less formal side, people moving into more family-style meals. We want that sense of community and sharing at the table."

Comfort Food
A lot of restaurants in New York are changing their menus to include more comfort food. "Eating mashed potatoes, for example, always reminds me of Sunday dinner at home with the family. There was nothing better than that big bowl of mashed potatoes that your mom or your grandmother put on the table."

People are retrieving old family recipes to add an extra touch of comfort to the table. "You’re going to see people delving back into their family history. They will take more time at the dinner table to relate to their family and talk about what’s happening.

"Again, in my family, Sundays were always the big meal," says Denise. "But the meal was never the main part of the experience. The experience was sitting for an hour or more after the meal where we told stories, laughed, and talked about what had happened in our collective past."

A recent survey determined that our favorite comfort foods are mashed potatoes and pasta. "I think you need to look at some of those different types of foods, and for them you really can’t go wrong with a variety of shapes and sizes in bowls. Having large bowls is very important. The same thing applies with platters."

Plates, Crystal, & Serving Platters
How you incorporate these themes into your actual table settings will depend on whether you are creating the comfort of family-style dining, or you are setting a more formal table.

"But I don’t think they are exclusive," says Denise. "Bringing out the fine china, the fine crystal, the fine silver, all those things are wonderful and should be used regularly.

"When it comes to your serving accessories, I think we are looking at larger platters and bowls, very functional pieces. Because even if you are setting a more traditional table with your fine products, you can still be serving family-style, so you’re going to need those larger platters and bowls to accommodate those types of food.

"A lot of people ask, ‘How often do I cook a turkey or a roast?’ But platters can also be used for grilled vegetables. They can be used for pasta, or pasta can go in bowls.

"Always have a selection of smaller individual bowls on hand for serving pasta, salad, or soup."

Denise suggests looking for pieces that are multi-functional and which fit the space you have on your table. "But think of the future as well, and what other type of space you might have.

"If most of your parties are going to be buffet-style, then you will need larger serving bowls and platters so you don’t have to refill them too often.

"Don’t forget those smaller accessory items like spoon rests. Every time you serve, you need a place to set down those utensils."

Denise notes that one of the keys to entertaining is to always write down your menu in advance. ?Next to each dish you are serving write down the serving accessories and utensils. That way, prior to setting the table, you know exactly how many different serveware pieces you are going to need. That gives you a solid foundation for building enough of those items into your household to be sure you can accommodate any type of meal you might have."

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Different Occasions, Individual Attention To Guests
"For the holidays, a lot of people are probably going to do more intensive entertaining with their family and their core group. Lenox talks about gifts that celebrate life.

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"Well, let’s just celebrate life at every stage, whether it be the first full moon of the month or Albert Einstein’s birthday. Let’s find a reason to celebrate because we are all here and we are all together. You can build around any one of those themes.?

During the bombing of London in World War II there were constant terror alerts, and yet the British went on with their daily lives. Certain traditions around the table from that period resonate today when people get together.

"Then you saw more formality at the table. It’s about pampering yourself and your loved ones. Maybe when you sit down at the table you can all say grace or go around the table and make simple statements about why you are all thankful and what it means to you to be at that table at that time. It’s all about making memories.

"Beyond your serving pieces, you want things just to add to the mood of the table, whether it be vases for fresh arrangements of flowers or mini bud vases you can set at each place setting to pamper people on an individual level.

"I often like to put a single votive candle or a single bud vase in front of each place setting," says Denise. "There are all kinds of accessories like that which you might not think about in terms of your table when you register, but they have very practical applications."

So it’s about paying more attention to each individual guest. "This sort of attention makes your guests feel you’ve thought this out in advance and have done everything possible to make them as comfortable as possible, whether they are family, friends, or newcomers."

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Special Dishes, And The Full Presentation
"If your signature dish is something ethnic that represents a family background, then often there are ways to decorate it with ethnic touches, whether it be special herbs or flowers from the region or even linens in the colors of that country’s flag. There are always different touches you can add.

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It becomes your signature presentation. "You always decorate it in the same way and garnish it with the same things. Some people would say that’s boring, that you should step out of the box. But it’s not boring. This is a way to be very true to yourself with your signature style."

If you choose a theme, you also can coordinate your table with flowers, music, lighting, colors, and other thematic elements to create a fun, inviting atmosphere that also offers this higher level of comfort and bonding. You can use the common theme to link them all.

For example, people often have "clubs" that encourage gatherings in each other’s homes. "In the 80’s, they had investment clubs. In the 90’s, book clubs became trendy.

"Now people are looking for a richer kind of bonding, so they are joining dinner clubs.

"If you have a dinner club, you switch off hosting the group with other couples. Maybe there are five couples in your core group, so every month you go to a different home for a meal, because meals are where we generally bond.

"You can pick a theme for each dinner and that person can decorate accordingly, or maybe you celebrate a different country, heritage, or tradition of each person’s background. That helps set the theme for the table and the evening.

"Eating in other people’s homes and seeing how they decorate their table is a great way to learn. You gain experience from enjoying celebrations with others."

We are seeing more traditional themes lately. "We’ve certainly seen jazz and big band come back in past years, and I think that’s going to continue. Or maybe it’s something new.

"For example, you can do a Zen theme with music that is very calming, while on the table your flowers, candles, flatware, and crystal are very simple. You could use very simple rice bowls and a very simple dinner plate.

"Even in that case, you could still use something like a place card holder on the table. But maybe you’ll use the little fortune cookie place card holder, or something very simple. It goes back to the theme of the celebration, the reason for entertaining in your home."

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Innovative Registry Building
This new experience of entertaining at home can help you determine what additional items you might need for your registry.

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"Or you could have people at your home and you’re setting up the bar with highball and martini glasses but you realize that the majority of the people are drinking beer, and it would be great to have crystal beer mugs or crystal Pilsner glasses. So the more you entertain, the more you learn what type of utensils or serving pieces you need."

It all goes back to the needs of your guests. If you set the bar with traditional cocktails but you don’t think about the beer drinkers, you will realize you need to accommodate those people with additional crystal.

"If you are not doing very much entertaining now but you are doing your registry, envision what a simple party might look like in your home. Build that sample menu, think about what you might serve and what things you would need to serve them."

A More Intimate Wedding
This new intimacy and its associated presentation can help guide you in creating a warmer wedding as well.

"We are seeing two different trends," says Denise. "On the one hand, some people are cutting down their guest lists to more intimate groups.

"But on the other hand, some people want even larger celebrations to really proclaim their love and their commitment to this marriage. They want to do it now, they want the world to know, and they want to make it the biggest celebration they possibly can."

But overall, more traditional elements are coming back into the wedding. "Perhaps they are choosing more traditional cake toppers, for example. Maybe we will see a resurgence of people looking back to the styles of the past in terms of their wedding gowns. They will look at what their mother and their grandmother wore.

"Or maybe they will incorporate their grandmother’s veil with their more modern dress. Or they’ll use a set of toasting flutes from the family, or things that are gifts from their core group of family and friends to be used in the actual wedding.

"Maybe you will see, again, some symbolic candles being lit at ceremonies, with special prayers being offered.?

Instead of giving wedding favors, more people are giving charitable donations in their guests’ names. "But if you are doing wedding favors, you can give silver fortune cookies, for example, which contain a special good fortune for each guest. Overall, I think we are going to see a lot more symbolism in weddings."

The New Celebration
"I think now any celebration is more about being in the moment, being aware, and taking this time in our lives to really love and cherish the people close to us, and to extend ourselves to others who may be in need.

"There are a lot of charities that we talk about for people in need, but there are also a lot of people out there who might be new to the city or community in which you live.

"There are so many small ways that we can make a difference in people’s lives. As a couple you are already going to make a big difference in each other’s lives and the lives of your families. But let’s also find ways that you as a couple can extend yourselves to others, maybe through outreach to the community, to pass along the love the two of you are sharing."

Lenox recently did a "Bridal Blueprint" promotion, offering 100 different tips for couples. "They were fun tips about relating and working together, and we talked about things as simple as planting a tree in the community together, tutoring children, or helping the elderly."

As we say at Manhattan Bride in our regular upfront "Projects Together" feature, "Extend your love to others, and watch it grow."

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A Warmer Welcome | More (& Less) Formality | Individual Attention to Guests | Signature Dishes | Innovative Registry Building | Contact

LENOX
800.63.LENOX
www.lenox.com