Divorced or estranged family
Use different tables with a trusted relative between each person and the main aisle. Do not place either table directly in the other person’s line of sight.
Free · no account
The Seating Planning Kit
The practical checks that stop a seating plan from becoming an entrance problem. Use it while planning, then print the final checklist for the coordinator.
01 · Capacity
Start with comfort, not the maximum
The maximum assumes every chair is usable and every group divides neatly. Hire for the comfortable number first; use the maximum only when the venue confirms the clearance.
| Table | Comfortable | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| 5 ft round | 8 | 10 |
| 6 ft round | 10 | 12 |
| 6 ft banquet | 6 | 8 |
| 8 ft banquet | 8 | 10 |
02 · Day of
Six checks before the doors open
- 1Search one short name, one long name, one nickname and one name with an accent on the guest page.
- 2Scan the entrance QR from two different phones after every final edit.
- 3Check cellular reception at the exact entrance where the sign will stand.
- 4Keep one exported guest list with the coordinator as the human-assisted backup.
- 5Brief one venue team member on Seating Desk before guests arrive.
- 6Confirm every guest has a table, every exact seat fits and no table exceeds capacity.
03 · People
The difficult-table playbook
Mobility, hearing or vision needs
Keep the route from entrance to chair clear, avoid squeezing that guest against a wall, and place hearing or vision needs close enough to the speeches without putting them beside a loudspeaker.
Couples and households
Keep couples together unless they asked otherwise. Seat young children beside their own adult, not at an unsupervised table simply to make the numbers tidy.
The nearly empty last table
Spread those guests across related tables before creating a four-person table laid for ten. The sparse “leftovers” table is the arrangement guests notice first.
04 · Paper
Place-card preparation
- Use the spelling guests are most likely to search, including accents and preferred names.
- Keep one source of truth. Generate cards only after the digital assignments are final.
- Print five blank cards for unexpected plus-ones, corrected spellings and last-minute moves.
- Do not print allergy claims such as “gluten-free” unless the caterer supplied that exact wording.
The free tools behind this checklist
Each one runs in the browser with no account and nothing to install.
- Free seating chart makerDrag tables, paste your guest list, seat everyone. The real builder, no account, nothing to install.
- How many tables do I need?Your guest count against a table size, showing what fits on paper and what to actually hire.
- Wedding drink calculatorHow much wine, beer and spirits to buy, as a list you can hand to a retailer. Guest count and bar hours in, bottles out.
- Printed chart cost calculatorYour sign maker quote and the late reprints, added up beside what this product costs. A comparison with us in it.
- Place card templatePaste a guest list and print folded or flat place cards. No retyping into a Word document.
- Printable table numbersNumbers or table names, one to a sheet, big enough to read from the door of the room.
- Wedding hashtag generatorBoth names in, hashtag ideas out, with the surname plural spelled the way surnames actually work.
Turn the checklist into one guest experience.
Import the list, arrange tables, test the guest search and generate the cards from the same seating data. Build everything before you decide whether to publish.