An Interview with Victoria B. Edwards

If you are familiar with the @EdwardsEtiquette Instagram feed, then you’ve probably seen Victoria B. Edwards’ delightful and colorful tablescapes and place settings, with napkins folded into many fun shapes. She was one of our two “Blue Ribbon” winners from the Etiquette Community for our 1st Annual Etiquipedia Place Setting Competition. 

🍽 🍽 🍽 🍽 

As a civility and etiquette expert, Victoria B. Edwards has taught dining protocol at recreation and community centers, athletic clubs, and libraries as part of numerous youth initiatives, after school and summer programs throughout the Metropolitan Detroit area for over 20 years. She founded Edwards Etiquette in 2015, and is a graduate of the Emily Post Institute. Edwards currently serves as Membership Director of the National Association of Urban Etiquette Professionals (NAUEP). Her firm holds memberships in the Michigan and National Afterschool Associations. Edwards also delivers corporate training on topics such as civility, business etiquette, communication, personal branding, and image management through customized programs, workshop/retreat facilitation and one-on-one consulting. She routinely partners with individuals and organizations to instill necessary confidence, training and professional awareness in adults to better represent themselves and their organizations. Edwards has received numerous awards and professional recognition for leadership and civic services, been featured in Who's Who in Black Detroit for 6 years, was selected as "Woman of the Year" by the National Association of Professional Women and promoted to Honorary Lieutenant of the United States Army for her commitment to voluntarism and community service. Congratulations, Victoria!

Victoria’s Menu

*AMUSE BOUCHE

Grilled Bacon Wrapped Scallops 

*Lime Sorbet

BREAD 

Butter Croissant 

SALAD

Strawberry Orange Spinach salad with Shredded Bacon and Feta Cheese crumbles

*Mint Sorbet

ENTREE 

Sautéed Collard Greens, Onions and (Minced) Garlic

Rice Pilaf                                     Chicken Marsala

DESSERT

Baked Cranberry & Caramel Stuffed Apple Pastry Puff 

with Vanilla Bean Ice cream

BEVERAGES

Lemon and Cucumber infused Water

California Cabernet Sauvignon                Cranberry/Blackberry     Infused Hot Tea

*Not shown, but would be part of this dining experience

Victoria’s setting is a lovely, romantic mix of mismatched floral china elements that blend beautifully together. This is not easily done. I have seen too many tables at which mismatched china pieces clashed with one another, so Victoria did a great job here with her choices.

The matte gold service plate (or place plate,) does not overwhelm the china and it complements the gold trim on the beverage ware. In fact, the photo is lit in such a way, that the flatware is possibly in a goldtone, however, it could be silvertone as well, which adds to the beauty of the table.

A few etiquette notes on Victoria’s setting: 

Specificity on what will be served and when, is always helpful when imagining how well a place setting suits a menu. This setting appears to have a superfluous teaspoon, however, I could not be certain, so we are assuming it is for a sorbet!

Unless a specific course requires a teaspoon, or spoon of any kind, one should not be at the setting. The menu specified that the sorbets were not part of the setting. Did that mean the teaspoon was not for either sorbet? I couldn’t answer that question and neither could Elizabeth Soos.

On the upside, I was pleased to see the butter spreader on the bread plate correctly. Too many hosts and hostesses have taken to placing these spreaders in a vertical manner (à la caterers or cruise lines), which is incorrect. Historically, any knife should face toward the diner or his / her plate. Blades of knives should never point toward anyone else at the table.

A mix of 3 different floral china patterns that complement one another beautifully.

A service plate, or place plate, with a high gold shine would have detracted from the gold and floral elements on the other tableware and the rose-fold napkin. The matte gold finish was the perfect choice.

The contemporary elements, like the glassware and flatware chosen by Victoria, mix well with the antique elements. Not one element is a detraction or distraction.

6 Questions for Victoria

1. Have you always enjoyed a properly set table? Or, if not, was table setting something you learned to enjoy through your social life and/or business, later on in life?

I have enjoyed a properly set table for as long as I can remember. Although I grew up in the Midwest, I grew up in a very Southern home. I was raised by my grandparents and never minded being my grandmother’s assistant in setting up for her various club meetings. The older I got, the more fun it got to set a fancy buffet table or create a charcuterie plate (even though I was an adult before I knew what ‘charcuterie’ meant). By time I was 12 years old, her (my grandmother) friends were inviting me to tea parties and their sorority and other notable womens’ events of the day. Sometimes as a junior hostess and sometimes a guest. I was elated to be invited in either capacity.

It was in those spaces I became interested in table setting and tablescapes. Our State Fair used to have a competition of sorts and it looked like SERIOUS BUSINESS and that was always fascinating to me.


2. How did you choose the various elements you used in your setting and why?

I went for pretty, feminine, and romantic with the elements of my table setting.. The colors (pink and gold), theme (Plain & Fancy) and menu selection brought to mind a few ladies getting together on deck or veranda discussing/planning the seasons’ cotillions, graduations and weddings. The menu is primarily composed of things one would have in the house or could get at the corner market as part of the weekly groceries with just a couple of gourmet items.

3. How, if at all, did Covid related social restrictions affect your choice of setting? Were you ready to celebrate? Feeling in the mood to do something different? Etc…

I can honestly say that I didn’t really have any COVID related social restrictions in my choice of setting. I was definitely ready to celebrate and feeling the need to do something different.

4. Same for the menu chosen as question number three… Did Covid related social restrictions affect your menu choices at all?

The only COVID-19 social restriction that comes to mind in my choice of setting was the idea of an individual pastry desert envisioned about the size of a popover for each guest and not a pie or cake.

5. If yours was a historical setting, why did you choose that particular period in time?

Mine was not a historical setting.

6. Do you plan on entering again next year?

Yes.

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia