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goodpet -> RE: High Protocol Dinner (3/13/2007 3:09:13 AM)
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We host a formal dinner at the house about once a month.
Your house set the protocols for your dinners. Make sure the guest know what is expected of them. I serve at other formal dinner in other houses also, some include play (i.e. messing with the help at dinner) but they are usually billed as a formal dinner-play party.
At serious dinners there usually is no play, it is service.
Our protocols, in general are (e-mail if you want more details).
At a "Master's Dinner" only Masters (Dom Top kind of folks) sit at the table, with a set seating hierarchy.
i am not naked but in service attire. We expect our guests to dress nicely also.
My job is to be invisible and serve before it is a need.
Dinner is announced with a 5 minute and then dinner is ready.
Table is set formally, if i am alone no more then 4 at the table, 2 slaves can do 6 or 8. (in a crunch i did 6 but it is difficult)
I hold chair for my Master alone, the rest of the table sits at his lead.
They talk while i pore drinks.
When he takes his napkin, which signals the others to do so as well and for me to start the meal. (salad, soup, main, so on..)
Depending on the dinner i usually plate the meal and serve in order, but we have done family style with food on the table before, and have done dish service (where you present the dish and they serve their own portions - you need at least 2 slaves to pull that off smoothly).
I say in the kitchen, visiting or slaves learning stay also. If this is a “Master’s Dinners” then they do not sit at the table or on the floor. They work and help, even if they do not serve. We eat in the kitchen.
(We also do a semi-formal dinner where it is more a family dinner with a formal setting and service where the slaves can partake, and we have done dinner/play also)
I do not hover but stay close to the door, since i can not hear the conversation, Master might see or hear it first and if a need comes up i do not see, Master calls with "girl, see to X's need there"
When Master puts his tableware on his plate (we use 10 to 4) i begin to clear. I do not clear as they finish but clear them all at once. So it is a bit of a timing job for him to wait for most to be finish but can also prompts along that person talking and not eating holding up the rest of the table..
Dessert is served with coffee.
When it appears the last is done. i stand in the doorway. Master asks if anyone needs anything else, (some may ask for more coffee) and then suggests they retire to the living room. I bring any coffee requested into them there.
At that point Master usually dismisses me, (I’m still on duty but that gives me time to clear the table and make more coffee away from the living room. He will call if needed.)
The big thing for our formal dinners is that it is serious and relaxed. No one is worried about messing up a protocol; we just overlook it and keep going. but the table is formal, the service is formal, my attire is formal. it has a feeling and atmosphere not found in the daily grind. It is an escape from normal dinners.
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