Those of you who have been following my blog for a while know that the Gilded Age and anything Edwardian and Victorian are my preferred choices when setting a table. This is even more so for Christmas, as I believe no one celebrated Christmas quite like the Victorians!
For this table, I decided to feature my collection of Spode Victorian Series luncheon plates, which were made out of original copper plates done by Spode in Victorian times. These vintage plates became the inspiration and decorating guide for the rest of the table. As you can see, and because the plates have lots of pinks and purples, I relied on shades of pink and greens to style this table.
The perfect companion to these Victorian plates were the Wedgwood Clio charger plates, with their profusion of pink peonies. To define the plates even more, I added the gold-encrusted, antique Pickard China plates in the middle. The floral, Wallace Rose Point sterling silver bread plates worked well with the flowers of the charger too.
As for the stemware, I mixed the Alvin sterling silver water goblets with needle-etched crystal and sterling silver Elgin wine goblets. Instead of serving champagne with dessert, I served port (which pairs fabulously with Sticky Toffee Pudding!), so I added the wheel-cut, port coupes by Libbey Rock Sharpe in the Frontenac pattern.
For this elegant Victorian table, romantic mother of pearl flatware seemed to be the perfect choice. The Old French dinner set is by Roger Bros., while the dessert fork is English sterling, by James Dixon & Sons.
Because pearl spoons are extremely difficult to find, I decided to pair my pearl sets with Sabre’s resin faux-mother of pearl spoons, which were a hit with my family.
I laid the table with a Wamsutta cotton Damask tablecloth, and used an antique, hand-embroidred Madeira tablecloth over it. The tablecloth has a dusty rose color; almost the exact shade as the peonies in the china, so the look was really lovely. As you can see, you don’t have to stick to red and green for Christmas, as long as you include other Christmas touches on the table.
The antique lap napkins are French, and have our family’s monogram. Because lap napkins are long, I decided to roll these for a prettier look.
Finally, I relied on my sterling silver, Mueck Carey 5-arm candelabra that was expertly restored by Gryphon Estate Silver’s sister silversmith company, Oexning Silversmiths. I added a Fenton Glass, white opaline vase with a pink crest to make it into an epergne, and added glass votive holders to my sterling silver candlesticks to use as posy holders! I also added two lovely votive holders (here) that were generously gifted by Party Lite for this table (here).
A table inspired by “Visions of Sugarplums” would be incomplete without, well, sugaplums, which in this case were chocolate covered cherries arranged in two, matching sterling silver and white opaline compotes from Frank M. Whiting. In Victorian times, sugarplums symbolized sweet and sumptuous comforts, which is why both The Nutcracker and The Night Before Christmas mention them. These confectionary treats were considered luxurious staples at Christmas, and basically include any fruit sweet encased by a hard shell.
These “sugarplums” were the perfect addition to my Christmas menu, pictured below, of Tomato Bisque, Chicken Salad with Venezuelan Pan de Jamón (my step-by-step recipe is here), Individual Beef Wellingtons with Mashed Potatoes and Mushroom-Port Wine Sauce, and finally a very Victorian and British dessert: Sticky Toffee Pudding with Vanilla Ice-Cream and Whisky Toffee Sauce!
A final touch was added with the Andrea by Sadek porcelain bisque pink rose place setting holders, to which I added vintage German foil antlers for a more festive look with hand lettered initials.
Of course, the table would not be complete without my signature beribboned chairs! This time, I went with a different way of wrapping them, and I hope you like them. Let me know if you would like me to do a video showing you how to do them!
I certainly hope you all had a marvelous and healthy Christmas, and I pray for an equally marvelous and healthy New Year! Thank you so much for following along! I hope you enjoy the video reel that I posted on Instagram too!
THE CENTERPIECE ELEMENTS:
THE TABLECLOTH AND CHAIRS:
THE STEMWARE:
THE FLATWARE:
THE PLACE SETTINGS:
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