Setup for this event is tricky. We have a great hodgepodge of dishes of all types, but no one grand set of party dishes. This means we have to rely on what the club has and what I can bring down for the event.
I try to decorate the house in a pre-WWII setting. The house itself is 18th century, but its furnishings, wallpaper, etc could be maybe 1925 or earlier. I try to stick with that period or earlier for the food, drink, and serving dishes to help set a more consistent sense of time and place. This means no plastic, and no 1970s-era chip-and-dips! I try to stick to glass and silverplate, or chromeplate that evokes the period.
Lorna and I collect a lot of glass. She looks for more decorative pieces, but I am always on the lookout for great serving dishes. I have a number of cakeplates and platters and bowls of varying sizes, and a nice collection of Candlewick, clear glass with clear glass beads around the outside - that suits the setting and looks nice in flickering candlelight.
Even though I do not have nearly enough dishes to fill all the needs of the party, I did better than you might expect. Because the party uses three different rooms, I was able to use the Candlewick in one room to great effect. Another room was decorated with a more rustic/colonial look, so wooden carving boards and pottery were both functional and decorative, reducing the need for much glass. Silverplate would not have looked right in that room.
Of course, the food and drink are the focus of attention, so the dishes are little more than highlights. As long as no egregious off-notes interrupt the overall symphony, it is quite possible to create a nice, fancy setting even with a hodgepodge of serving dishes!