Seating chart maker
Draw the room, hold the list against it, publish the guest page. Open it free.
Guest list to check-in
Guest Management
Guest management is one list, read five different ways over about six months. The invitation list, the RSVP list, the dietary list, the seating list and the arrival list are all the same people, and almost every problem in the category comes from them living in different places.
This is the hub for the parts of that job we cover: building the list, tracking responses, assigning seats and marking arrivals.
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From invitation to check-in
The guest list has a lifecycle, and each stage adds a column rather than replacing the list.
It starts as names and addresses. RSVPs add a yes or no and a headcount. Dietary requirements and accessibility needs arrive next, usually by reply email and usually not in a form. Then seating adds a table. Finally, on the day, arrival adds a timestamp.
When each stage lives in a different tool, somebody has to reconcile them, and that somebody is always doing it at 11pm the night before. Keeping the list in one place is not a productivity tip, it is the difference between one evening of work and five.
01Build the list
Names and households. Get the household structure right at this stage, because every later count depends on it.
02Track responses
Yes, no, awaiting, plus headcount. A plus-one is a person from the moment it exists, whether or not it has a name.
03Collect requirements
Dietary notes, accessibility needs, who cannot sit near the speakers. Attach them to the guest rather than keeping them in an inbox.
04Assign seats
Table, and a chair where it matters. This is where the free seating chart maker takes over.
05Mark arrivals
On the day, from a phone at the door. Covered on event check-in app.
Building your list
The structural decision is households, not individuals. "The Okafor family, 4" behaves correctly in every count you will do afterwards; four separate rows behave correctly in none of them, because they will be seated together and they arrive together.
Import whatever you already have. A pasted column of names, a CSV from an RSVP site, an Excel file from the venue - all three come in without retyping. The one thing worth cleaning up first is how plus-ones are recorded, because that is what every capacity count depends on.
For the smaller event before the wedding, the rehearsal dinner seating chart keeps households, partners and final restaurant changes in a compact plan.
Tracking RSVPs
The number that matters is people, not replies. A list of 90 households that has had 70 replies tells you very little; 154 confirmed people against a room that holds 160 tells you everything.
Two practical rules. Chase by phone rather than by email once the deadline has passed, because the people who have not replied to two emails will not reply to a third. And do not start seating until at least 90 percent are in, or you will do the work twice - the reasoning is in the wedding seating chart guide.
RH Seating records the status you import or enter; it does not send invitations or collect replies from guests. Keep the invitation or RSVP service you already use, then bring its confirmed list here for seating and arrival work.
Assigning seats
Seating is where the guest list stops being a list and becomes a plan. It needs the room as well as the names, which is why it is a different tool rather than another column.
Start at seating chart software for what the category does, or go straight to the free seating chart maker, which opens without an account.
Day-of check-in
Two jobs happen at the door and they are usually confused with each other. One is the guest finding out where they sit. The other is you finding out who has turned up.
The first is the guest's job and they should be able to do it themselves - that is what the QR code seating chart is for. The second is yours, and it needs a fast name search and a single tap, which is the event check-in app.
Splitting them is what removes the queue. When guests can answer their own question, the person on the door is free to handle the ones who cannot.
Tools
Every tool below runs off one guest list held in one place.
Check-in
Name search and an arrived tap, from a phone. Event check-in app.
Guest-facing lookup
The half guests use. QR code seating chart.
Stationery
Place cards and table numbers generated from the finished list. Free tools.
Frequently asked questions
What is event guest management?
Keeping one guest list through its whole lifecycle: invitations, RSVPs, dietary and accessibility requirements, seat assignments and arrivals. The work is not any single stage, it is keeping them from drifting apart.
Should I track guests as households or individuals?
Households, with a headcount column. Households are how people are invited, seated and how they arrive, and a per-person list gets every one of those counts subtly wrong once plus-ones exist.
When should I stop chasing RSVPs?
When the deadline passes, switch from email to phone. Anyone who has ignored two emails will ignore a third. Do not start seating until roughly 90 percent are confirmed.
Can I import my guest list?
Yes. A pasted column of names, a CSV export or an Excel file all import without retyping, and existing table assignments come across with them.
Continue from here
One list, from invitation to arrival.
Import what you already have and see the whole thing in one place.
Build your chart freeNo account needed to buildFirst event free through 250Paid events refundable until 7 days after the day