Formal Luncheon Table Arrangement -Amy Vanderbuilt’s New Complete Book of Etiquette

Damask clothes are not used at formal luncheons. Placemats of the more formal variety, often white, or an embroidered cloth which does not overhang the table are customary.

There are no candles on a luncheon table, but there are flowers or some other centerpiece. Butter plates are used, even at a formal table. Most formally, the butter is passed, rather than being in place when the guests sit down. The butter is in decorative curls or decorated balls or pats, or, if neatly sliced off a quarter-pound bar, is usually decorated in some way, perhaps by a bit of parsley or other herb. Various hot breads are passed during the meal.

If the table is large, decorative dishes of fruit, candies, or nuts may be spaced down the length of the table. A large Epergne may contain both fruits and flowers, and on a long table the flower motif could be repeated in tight little low flower arrangements strategically placed. Sometimes there are place corsages for the ladies on some very special occasion, such as a debutante luncheon.

The luncheon napkin is smaller that that used for formal dinner. It is folded with an eye to the usual corner monogram. It has been folded by the laundress in a square. This square is folded into a triangle with the embroidery at the top. The the other two points of the triangle are folded under the napkin, which is then placed on the place plate, monogram up, of course. The napkin may also be folded in half lengthwise, as it comes from the linen supply, so that it forms a neat rectangle. This is placed on the place plate with the fold either on the left or right.

At the formal luncheon no food is portioned or carved at the table but is brought in and passed.

I recently found an old copy of Amy Vanderbilt’s New Complete Book Of Etiquette at the St. Vincent DePaul’s for 25 cents. I love this sort of thing and have a great Emily Post book as well! I feel like gracious manners are a dying art form… ANY manners at ALL really seem to be actually. I decided to share an excerpt from the book with whenever I think about it.

The Formal Luncheon .

“In the 1880s formal luncheons, feminine to a degree, were very elaborate, with hand-painted satin menu cars, illustrated place cards, fantastic pastoral centerpieces.

An etiquette writer of the day, speaking of such affairs, found it necessary to admonish, ‘To eat with gloves on is female snobbery. Young women who go out to parties may be indifferent to smearing them with lobster salad, or to have the first finger and thumb darkened where the spoon touches them. But nothing is prettier than the freshness of a woman’s hand, and the best fitting glove is, after all, but an awkward thing.Gloved hands that feed, to keep up the whole dignity of the thing, should find mouths that were hidden behind veils.’ Ladies lunching in those day were snugly hatted, without exception, including the hostess. It is interesting to note that Queen Victoria was reported as dining gloveless, a wild departure for the period.

Today, although the formal lunch at home is rare, it does occasionally take place, especially at country places, resorts, and in diplomatic circles.

Invitations to a formal luncheon are usually telephoned, but those to official luncheons are engraved. At official luncheons and a Sunday, Saturday, or holiday ones, men and women guests are usually in equal number; otherwise, a formal luncheon is essentially a feminine occasion.

Again, a formal luncheon is not possible without an adequate household staff. A hostess may not serve herself, although if a butler or houseman is lacking a waitress is quite acceptable at a formal lunch, though not at a formal dinner.”