Definition: A charger is a large decorative plate that is typically placed underneath the dinner plates and act as an additional decor item on the table.
Practical Use + Tips: While they may look like big plates, chargers are not used for eating! Your guests will still have their actual dinner plates, which means the chargers serve very few purposes.
From the design end of things they add a very elevated touch to the table setting and you are able to use a ton of different styles that can help compliment other elements of the table and your theme. My favorite is when you mix textures- think glass charger with black plates or rustic charger with elegant glassware, the combos are almost endless and make building your tables so much fun and unique to your style!
A few things to consider:
- Using chargers can be a challenge if you are doing a Family-Style meal as they end up taking up a ton of that table space.
- In a buffet style of dinner service people tend to think that the charger is their plate, or they use the charger as their “seconds” plate.
- Chargers can add up! You can always just add them to the head table to really enhance that main area and leave the others with the typical place setting.