Preservation of Excellence
Welcome to our website.
At Preservation of Excellence, we believe that excellence is a way of life and that a job well done is its own reward. Treating others with respect and consideration is a powerful and enduring form of leadership. Please join us as we explore ways to develop and project a healthy self-image while encouraging excellence through our interactions with others.
As you visit our other websites focused on ELEGANCE, you will see this graceful swan overseeing and shepherding our efforts. Make no mistake about it, though swans convey beauty and grace, they are very powerful creatures capable of great strength and discernment. Thus, we believe that the swan image also belongs to our image of excellence.
Yet, there is another dimension that we wish to introduce, and have selected this image of a Lepidoptera. As you ponder the image, consider that the Lepidoptera emerges truly excellent following a period of patience and quiet incubation. We believe this reflects the meaningful and enduring quality of excellence through a healthy self-image.
You can visit our companion websites at this link.
When striving for excellence, remember that a job well done is its own reward.
Get in Touch
grace@preservationofelegance.com
Elevating Standards, Preserving Excellence.
Welcome to Preservation of Excellence and our companion websites at Preservation of Elegance. You will see that we believe strongly in the close connection between elegance and excellence. Both are deliberate. Over the course of our collaboration, we have identified key elements that contribute to and result from an elegant lifestyle. To assist you on your journey, we designed each of our companion websites to focus on a particular element or related elements. This will demonstrate how these components contribute to the desired elegance. Your guides are Lady Virginia, Lady Grace, and Deidre. Lady Virginia hosts www.ladypersonified.com. She will describe the “rules” of etiquette and manners. This includes table settings and polite behavior. Next is Lady Grace. On her website, www.entertainingwithgrace.com, she will help you explore ways to apply the rules in real life. Her main focus is to encourage you to host and attend social events, and she provides tips on various styles and venues when entertaining guests. Deidre is our historian and scribe. She will focus on the historical development of the rules and pop in from time to time to demystify them by putting them in historical context. She also acts as host on our website, www.circleofelegance.com. This is where you can be a part of Preservation of Elegance and ask questions or make suggestions.
You will be pleased to see that we also host www.etiquetteonthego.com. This concise, rapid-fire site will give you quick answers and examples, along with a simple test to reinforce what you have learned. Additionally, we designed www.questionofmanners.com and www.aguidetomanners.com to provide more general information. Each website contains convenient links to the other websites so you can move smoothly from one topic to another.
Credentials and Certificates
Wingate University, 2026
Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
Tiffany & Company
The Tiffany Manners Program for Adults
International Etiquette And Protocol Academy of London
Certified International Social Etiquette Consultant
Global Etiquette Customs and Cross Cultural Awareness
The Emily Post Institute
Children's Etiquette Train the Trainer Program
Business Etiquette Train the Trainer Program
Wedding Etiquette for Professionals Program
The American School of Protocol
Cultivating Character
We are eager to get acquainted and urge you to join our conversation at www.circleofelegance.com. You can contact us directly using the email address below and, at the same time, join the conversation.
Thank you and keep up the good work, Lady Virginia, Lady Grace and Deidre
We are pleased to announce the release of our most recent book, Preservation of Elegance Tools for Elegant Living. Deidre Vick is the author, but you will also find Lady Virginia and Lady Grace featured in the book's conversations. With warmth and wit, Preservation of Elegance moves through the language of manners, hospitality, social grace, and gracious living, all the while providing inspiration to develop confidence and build a healthy self-image. It offers a refreshing vision of modern grace rooted in tradition, restores the charm of civility, and celebrates the essential timeliness of elegance.
Highlights include:
How to develop an inner composure that is reflected as outward elegance, and fosters mutual respect
Gentle instruction on posture, poise, and suitable attire for all occasions.
An historical understanding of the rules, which allows for the proper application of etiquette in the modern world.
Tips for creating an elegant home environment that provides a comfortable and relaxed retreat for family and a welcoming setting for entertaining.
Detailed instructions for hosting or attending a formal, informal, or casual dining event in a home or restaurant.
We have come to find that the pursuit of excellence and elegance is similar to building a gracious home. In the floor plan below, you will find rooms associated with certain activities. For example, the entrance provides a welcome to the house and a closet for things you won't need until you leave. You'll notice, too, that it is the same door through which you depart for the outside world, having been refreshed and encouraged by what the house has to offer! That may be afternoon refreshments in the Conservatory or a full meal in the dining room or an evening in the library. Let's make the journey together.The master floor plan below will help navigate our companion websites, and enhance the sense of elegance as we stroll through the various rooms. You may think the floor plan very old fashioned, but the elements never go out of style and represent excellence and elegance on a very human scale. Please register your thoughts and ask questions at www.circleofelegance.com or email us: grace@preservationofelegance.com.
Here is a bonus item from our Lady Personified website that we thought reflected ELEGANCE and EXCELLENCE From time to time, you may hear someone described as a "tea firster" or "milk firster". The expression refers to whether the tea is poured first into the cup before the milk, or whether the milk comes first. Historically, the custom reflected more than personal preference. Fine porcelain could withstand the heat of freshly brewed tea. The less expensive pottery was more likely to crack if boiling tea was poured directly into the cold cup. Adding the milk first acted as a cushion. Also, the pottery would stain readily. Yes, it originally identified an individual's affluence. Here are examples of the difference between fine porcelain and pottery. Both are the same age, have been used equally and cared for (and loved) equally. Yet as you see, the fine porcelain cup is bright and unstained while the pottery cup is badly stained from the coffee and tea. You can read more about the differences and qualities of china at www.ladypersonified.com, but here is a summary. Fine porcelain (or fine bone china) is 'vitified" during the firing process. This makes it less porous. And bone china is literally made from animal bone and maintains its milky-white color, durability, and translucency. A well-made tea or coffee cup is an investment in lasting quality, i.e.elegance and excellence. However, please take seriously the importance of serving tea with grace and enjoying the company around the table. In other words, don't miss the opportunity if all you have are styrofoam cups!