Is it formal?
--It's very nice of you to invite me.
--I'm very glad you could come, Mr. Liu. Will you take a seat at the head of the table? It's an informal dinner, please don't stand on ceremony... Mr. Liu, would you like to have some chicken?

Hi,guys. This is in a text, I don't know whether it was formal to native English speaker, especially,the both sentences of ' Will you take a seat at the head of the table?' and ' please don't stand on ceremony'.

Thank you very much!

Question

Is it formal?
--It's very nice of you to invite me.
--I'm very glad you could come, Mr. Liu. Will you take a seat at the head of the table? It's an informal dinner, please don't stand on ceremony... Mr. Liu, would you like to have some chicken?

Hi,guys. This is in a text, I don't know whether it was formal to native English speaker, especially,the both sentences of ' Will you take a seat at the head of the table?' and ' please don't stand on ceremony'.

Thank you very much!

Answer

This is a pretty normal exchange at a dinner party. It's semi formal so not like a barbeque in the garden for friends and family but not a formal dinner with waiter service and named place settings. The invitation to have a seat at the head of the table might indicate some defference to the guest as being particularly important and the request not to stand on ceremony is  often used to indicate that someone should help themselves and not wait to be served.

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