Free seating chart generator

How to use the seating chart generator

1. 1

   Add your guests

   Type or paste one guest per line. To keep people together, add a group after a comma, semicolon or tab, as in “Anna Puig, Puig family”. From Excel or Google Sheets, paste the name and group columns straight in.

2. 2

   Choose the seats per table

   Pick 4 to 20 to match the venue’s real tables. The wedding table calculator gives the usual figure for each table size.

3. 3

   Add a top table if you’re having one

   Set its number of seats and pick the group that sits there. Make that group first, for example by writing “Top table” after each person who’ll sit at it.

4. 4

   Generate the tables

   You get the fewest tables that fit everyone, with each group kept together and tables of similar size.

5. 5

   Adjust and keep the result

   Rename tables, move guests between tables or regenerate. Then print the plan or download it as a CSV file.

Prepare a guest list that groups well

The group is the only thing the generator knows about each guest, so it shapes the result. A good group is people who’d happily share a table and whom you’d seat together anyway.

• Families, split by household when they’re large: “Grandparents”, “Smith family”, “Uncle Joe and cousins”.
• Couples: always the same group for both, or they may end up at different tables.
• Friend circles: “School friends”, “Five-a-side team”, “Tom’s work”.
• Plus-ones: the group of the guest who invited them.

Children go in their parents’ group or, for a children’s table, in a group such as “Kids”. List babies who’ll need a high chair too, as they take a place at the table.

Write “Anna Puig” rather than “Puig, Anna”, because anything after a comma or semicolon is read as the group.

How the generator builds the tables

First it works out the fewest tables that fit everyone: 104 guests at tables of 10 need 11. Then it seats each group at one table, splitting a group over neighbouring tables only when it’s bigger than a table.

Finally it balances the tables, so 104 guests sit at tables of 9 and 10 rather than ten full tables and a leftover table of 4. Because groups stay whole, a table may end up one person short.

Then fix what the list couldn’t tell it:

• Rename tables to match the venue’s numbering or the names on your table cards.
• Move a guest to another table when you know something the groups don’t, like two cousins who no longer speak.
• Regenerate if the list or the table size changes, and leave manual moves until the end.

Tips for a seating plan that needs fewer fixes

• Keep groups between 2 and 10 people. A group of 25 gets split wherever there’s room.
• Use the real table size. A 180 cm (6 ft) round seats 10; asking for 12 means bumped elbows all evening.
• Leave some slack. 100 guests at tables of 10 fill every seat; at 9 per table you get 12 tables and 8 spare seats for late plus-ones.
• Before printing, check where guests with specific needs have landed, such as a wheelchair user or a baby in a high chair.
• If the generator needs 11 tables and the venue has 10, trim the list, add a seat per table or ask for a long table.

The top table is a decision of its own. In the UK it’s traditionally a straight table facing the room; in the US, couples often choose a sweetheart table for two. Our top table guide covers the usual orders.

What to do with your seating plan next

Print it and check it with your partner or family, because mistakes are easier to spot on paper. Send the CSV to the venue or caterer, or keep working on it in a spreadsheet.

Next comes deciding where each table goes in the room: the top table, close family nearby, the dance floor and the exits. Our guide on how to make a wedding seating chart helps with that, and the printable templates include a round-table plan to fill in by hand.

What the free generator doesn’t do

It’s made for the first draft, and some things are outside its scope.

• Tables are a list, without a floor plan of the room.
• You move a guest by picking a new table; there’s no seat map to drag them onto.
• Each guest has a name and a group. Menus or allergies belong in a spreadsheet or the full app.
• Asking for changes in your own words needs the AI agent in the full app.
• The list lives in one browser and clearing your browser data deletes it, so keep the CSV as a backup.

For a venue plan, drag & drop seating, custom columns and an optional AI agent, use Seating Crowd.