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The online cookbook for entertaining and gourmet recipes. |
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Table Centerpieces - The Focus on your Dinner Table
by Thomas Wenger
Centerpieces, accent pieces, pictures, paintings and decorations you might have in your homes, are there to direct the focus to this particular spot, place or area when entering a particular room. They set the mood of the house whether it be modern, ethnic, antic or contemporary and a visitor will associate the “feel” of your house with your personality, hobbies and simply the person you are.
A perfectly set dining table without a centerpiece is just that, a perfectly set dining table. With a beautiful set centerpiece the dining table becomes the centerpiece of the dining room.
The table centerpiece is very important, as it needs to be in sync with the food to be served, needs to reflect your taste and personality and can be the major attraction and focus of your guests ahead of the actual dinner.
The table centerpiece will also confirm the attention to detail the host has put into the occasion as well as they can ascertain a feeling of festivity, relaxed comfort and atmosphere or casual party and “wet the appetite” for the dinner that is to follow.
Every table should have a centerpiece as in general every even though so simple lunch or dinner should be celebrated and enjoyed. An informal lunch with friends or family a simple small table centerpiece, perhaps with seasonal flowers or ornaments, makes everybody feel welcome at the table. A centerpiece for a grand affair or formal dinner can include anything from antic candelabras, elaborate flowers, crystal or ceramic figure to intricate water features.
There are very few rules to what your centerpiece should look like, as it is really up to the individual’s creativity and imagination, but there are a few guidelines one needs to keep in mind when setting the centerpiece:
- The centerpiece needs top be aligned with the size of your table. Keep in mind that, if you’re serving dishes family style in the middle of the table, you will need some rooms, for the bowls and platters the food is served in. It’s fairly embarrassing if half way through the setting of the food the centerpiece needs to be removed in order to ensure all the food fits onto the table.
- Candles and lights can set a great mood. However, they are also radiate heat off the flames or light bulbs and too much might just make the atmosphere too hot. Also, if you are setting candles in an air-conditioned or fan cooled room, check with the airflow as they might “blow” one way and that way will drip over the table.
- Candles should also be either tall or low (tea candles in a decorative glass) as the glow of the flame can
- The centerpiece needs to ensure and unobstructed view to the guests at the other side of the table. It needs to be either low enough so guest can see each other and hold a conversation or be elevated high above the table, the very least as high as above the eye level of an upright seated person.
- Candelabras and similar items should be placed strategically as not to obstruct the above mentioned view of above mentioned.
- Water features and other electronically powered items carry messy cables. Those should be hidden and tucked away underneath a table runner or similar. Ensure that all plates and glasses are still standing flat and are not inclined to tip when a guest places it back on the table.
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