Wedding seating chart planner
Build your guest list, set up your reception tables, and assign everyone with a click. See who's unseated and which tables are over capacity as you go, then print the finished chart. Nothing leaves your browser.
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Seating chart overview
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How to plan a wedding seating chart
Start with your tables, not your guest list: decide roughly how many tables you'll have and what size each one is, since your venue or rental company's available table sizes set a hard ceiling on how you can group people. Round tables commonly come in a few standard sizes that seat somewhere around 6, 8, 10, or 12 guests depending on the table's diameter and your venue's own inventory -- there's no single universal number, which is why every table in the planner above has its own adjustable seat count rather than one fixed default.
For the couple themselves, there are two common setups, per “The Lowdown on Making a Seating Arrangement for Your Wedding,” The Knot: a head table, which seats the couple together with the wedding party (and often their dates), creating a more lively, social feel since a larger group is interacting; or a sweetheart table, a table for two that gives the couple a quieter, more intimate moment during the reception. Traditional head-table seating places the groom to the bride's right, the best man to her left, and the maid of honor to the groom's right -- though the same source is explicit that there's no strictly correct arrangement as long as it serves your guests' comfort.
Common seating conventions
Parents and close family typically sit together at one or two tables near the couple, often with grandparents and close family friends joining them. For divorced parents, a widely used approach -- confirmed independently by both “The Lowdown on Making a Seating Arrangement for Your Wedding,” The Knot and “Wedding Reception Seating Etiquette,” For Your Party -- is to give each parent their own table rather than seating them together, which sidesteps any tension without making a statement either way. It's a common approach, not a rule: some families are perfectly comfortable at one shared table, and you know your own situation best.
A kids' table is common when there's a meaningful number of children attending, and the convention both sources agree on is to keep it near wherever the kids' own parents are seated, not off on its own, with something on hand (coloring, small activities) to keep them occupied through dinner. When a friend group is larger than one table, the standard advice is to split it across two or more nearby tables and fill in the remaining seats with other guests -- the one real pitfall to avoid is leaving a single member of that group seated apart from everyone else they know. And rather than a designated "singles table," both sources recommend mixing single guests in among friend groups or couples they already know, which tends to feel more natural than grouping people by relationship status alone.
Worked example: 24 guests, 3 tables
This example is built in the planner above itself (Family, Friends, and College Crew tables), not typed up separately -- every number here is read directly from that plan. It seats 24 guests across three tables with 24 total seats: Family (8/8), Friends (9/10), and College Crew (7/6, which is over capacity by 1 guest). 24 of 24 guests are seated and none are left unassigned in this example -- exactly the kind of gap the overview above is built to surface, whether it's an over-full table or a guest who hasn't been placed yet.
Questions
Is my seating chart saved anywhere?
Only in this browser. Everything you type -- guests, tables, and who's assigned where -- is saved to your browser's local storage as you work, so it's still there if you close the tab or reload the page. It never leaves your device and isn't sent to any server, which also means it won't show up if you open this site on a different browser or computer. Use the print button to keep a copy, or check back on the same browser and device.
How many guests fit at a round table?
It depends on the table size your venue or rental company provides, which is exactly why this tool lets you set each table's seat count yourself rather than assuming one number. As a rough, commonly seen range: smaller rounds often seat 6, mid-size rounds 8, and larger rounds 10 to 12. Ask your venue or rental company which sizes they actually have before you finalize counts.
What's the difference between a head table and a sweetheart table?
A head table seats the couple together with the wedding party and often their guests or partners -- it tends to feel more lively since a larger group is interacting. A sweetheart table seats just the couple, alone, which reads as more intimate and gives the two of you a quiet moment during the reception. Neither is "more correct"; “The Lowdown on Making a Seating Arrangement for Your Wedding,” The Knot notes there's no single right way to set up the head table as long as it serves your guests' comfort. Add either as a table in the planner above with a capacity of 2 (sweetheart) or your full wedding-party count (head table).
Where should divorced parents sit?
A common approach, if it keeps things comfortable, is to give each parent their own table rather than seating them together. “The Lowdown on Making a Seating Arrangement for Your Wedding,” The Knot describes this as a way to "smoothly diffuse any awkwardness," and the same guidance appears independently at “Wedding Reception Seating Etiquette,” For Your Party. There's no requirement either way -- some families prefer one shared parents' table -- so use whichever your specific situation calls for.
Should I have a separate table for kids?
Many hosts do, but the convention is to keep it near the tables where those children's parents are actually seated, not off in a far corner, and to add something to keep kids occupied during dinner. If you'd rather not run a separate kids' table at all, seating children directly with their own parents works just as well -- it's a preference, not a rule.
What if a friend group is too big for one table?
Split the group across two (or more) nearby tables rather than one table bursting past its seat count. The one real rule worth following here: never leave a single member of a tight-knit group seated alone at a different table from all their friends -- spread the group evenly, or pair the odd-one-out with another friend from the group, so no one ends up isolated.