How many tables do I need?
Enter your guest count and table size. You get the number that fits on paper and the number to actually hire, which are not the same.
12
tables if every chair is filled
17
tables to actually hire
Across real events on RH Seating, hosts build tables of ten and seat about 7.4 people at them. Couples sit together, families take a table and leave chairs, and nobody puts a stranger in the last seat. Plan for 17.
Now put your guests at those 17 tables.
Build the seating, print one QR code, and let guests search their own name on the day. Your first event is free through 250 guests.
Start a seating planWhy dividing by ten gets it wrong
Across 608 tables at events actually run on RH Seating, hosts overwhelmingly build tables of ten and then seat an average of 7.4 people at them.
That gap is not waste, it is how seating works. Couples sit together. A family of five takes a table of ten and the other five seats go to people they know. Nobody puts a stranger in the last chair to make the arithmetic tidy, and the one table where that happens is the table people remember.
So a calculator that divides your guest list by your table size gives you the number of tables that would fit if seating were a packing problem. It is not, and the host who hires that number spends the morning of the wedding moving people around.
Common questions
- How many tables do I need for 100 guests?
- Ten tables of ten if every chair is filled. In practice, hosts running real events seat about 7.4 people at a table laid for ten, because couples and families sit together and leave chairs. For 100 guests, hire fourteen and you will not be short.
- How many people fit at a round table?
- A 5ft round seats eight comfortably and ten at a squeeze. A 6ft round seats ten comfortably and twelve at a squeeze. Across the events on RH Seating, tables of ten are used more than every other size put together.
- Why does the calculator suggest more tables than the maths?
- Because dividing by capacity assumes strangers will fill the last seats and they do not. The average table at a real event on RH Seating holds 7.4 guests rather than ten. A host who hires the arithmetic number ends up moving people around on the day.
- Is it better to have fewer big tables or more small ones?
- More small tables, usually. Guests at a table of twelve cannot hold one conversation, and the two people at the far end talk to nobody. Eight to ten is where a table still works as one group.
- What do I do about a nearly empty last table?
- Spread those guests across the other tables rather than filling every table and stranding four people. A table laid for ten with four people at it reads as the leftovers table, and it is the one guests notice.
Once you know your table count, the next job is putting names at them. Build a free QR seating chart and guests find their own table by scanning a code, or read how that compares with a printed board.
The number you just entered also decides the bar. Work out how much drink to buy from the same guest list. When the table count is settled, you can draw those tables and seat them here, free and with no account.