Drag guests onto tables
Round, long, square and head tables, laid out like your room. Couples and families stay together.
Free tool
Free wedding seating chart maker
For weddings, birthdays, dinners and any event. Add your guests, drag them onto tables and print the seating chart. Then put one QR code at the door so every guest finds their own table. Free, no card needed.
- Add your guests, or paste a list.
- Add tables and drag guests onto them.
- Print the chart and switch on the QR page.
See the whole room
Every table, every guest and the dance floor on one plan. This is what yours looks like once your guests are seated.
Print the seating chart
Table cards, an A–Z guest list and a floor plan for the venue, ready to print.
QR “find your table”
One QR code at the entrance. Guests type their name and see their table on the room plan.
Meals and dietary notes
Keep each guest's meal and allergies next to their seat, and give the venue the counts.
A wedding seating chart maker that draws the room
This free seating chart maker draws your reception room instead of a spreadsheet. Add your guest list, set out the tables your venue has and drag people onto chairs; it prints the paperwork for the day and can give guests a QR code that shows their table. It is made for couples doing their own seating, and suits a wedding planner, a parent handed the job, or a birthday or company dinner just as well.
- Your guest list, fast. Type guests in, paste rows from Excel or Google Sheets, or upload an Excel, CSV, Numbers or ODS file, up to 1,000 rows at a time.
- Seven table shapes. Round, long, square, oval, head, sweetheart and half-round, each with its own chair count (up to 40), size and angle.
- The whole room. Dance floor, stage, bar, DJ, cake, gifts, photo booth, entrance, ceremony arch and more, plus starting layouts sized to your guest count.
- Drag, drop or tap. Drag a guest to a chair or a whole party to a table. On a phone, tap to pick a guest or a party, then tap a chair.
- Groups and rules. Colour-code groups, mark guests to be kept apart or seated together, and let Auto-seat fill the guest tables.
- Meals and needs. Main course and dietary notes per guest, and tags for children, high chairs, wheelchair users and vendors.
- Six print sheets. Floor plan (A4 or A3), A–Z seating chart, escort cards, table cards, place cards and a caterer list with table and chair counts, plus a CSV download.
How to make a wedding seating chart, step by step
For the etiquette in more depth and a sample plan for 80 guests, read how to make a wedding seating chart without the family drama.
Start from a clean guest list
One row per invitation with the number of people it covers, so couples and families sit as one party. Enter a couple as “Ana & Luka Smith” with two people and each gets a named chair. Still collecting names? See how to make a wedding guest list.
Sort guests into groups
Each side’s family, school and university friends, colleagues, your parents’ friends. Chairs take their group’s colour on the plan, so a table that mixes three groups stands out.
Agree the tables with your venue
Ask which shapes and sizes they have and how many fit once the dance floor and bar are in, and draw those. Keep a spare chair or two for late changes.
Seat yourselves and the VIPs first
Place your head or sweetheart table where everyone can see you and near the speeches. Parents, grandparents and the wedding party sit closest, usually one table per family.
Plan around sensitive pairings
Divorced parents each host their own table, equally close to yours; ask each privately what they would like. Mark relatives who do not get along as “kept apart” and Auto-seat never puts them at one table.
Seat children with care
Babies and toddlers sit with their parents, ideally near an exit; older children often enjoy a kids’ table near them. Tag children and high chairs so the caterer list and rental counts include them.
Make room for accessibility
A guest using a wheelchair or walker needs an edge table with a clear route. Older guests should see and hear the speeches without sitting beside the speakers. A wheelchair tag shows on the guest’s chair.
Fill the rest, then adjust
Auto-seat places whole parties group by group, never at a table with someone they are kept apart from, and leaves head and sweetheart tables to you. Then move people by hand.
Finalise when the RSVPs are in
Build the final version after your reply deadline and give the caterer final numbers by the date they ask for, often a week or two before. Let one person own the final version.
Print the cards, or let guests look it up
Print an A–Z chart or escort cards for the entrance, table and place cards, and the caterer list. Or switch on “find your seat” and put a QR code sign at the door.
Wedding table sizes: how many guests fit
Tables vary between rental companies, so treat these as typical ranges and confirm sizes with your venue.
| Table | Typical size | Guests |
|---|---|---|
| Round | 120 cm (4 ft) across | 6–8 |
| Round | 150 cm (5 ft) across | 8–10 |
| Round | 180 cm (6 ft) across | 10–12 |
| Long (banquet) | 180 cm (6 ft) long | 6–8 |
| Long (banquet) | 240 cm (8 ft) long | 8–10 |
| Square | 150 cm (5 ft) a side | 8 |
| Sweetheart | small round or short table | 2 |
On long tables allow about 60 cm (2 ft) of edge per person. To count tables, divide your guests by the seats per table and round up: 120 guests at tables of 10 is 12 tables, plus your own.
Round or long tables?
Round tables let everyone talk to everyone and leave walkways between them. Long tables fit more people into a narrow room and feel like a feast, though guests mostly talk to their neighbours. Many weddings mix both, which is one of the starting layouts. A head table seats you, often with the wedding party, facing the room; a sweetheart table is just the two of you, often simpler when family is complicated.
When to finalise your seating chart
Group your guests as soon as the invitations go out; that part does not depend on replies. Build the real chart after your RSVP deadline and finish it by the date your caterer wants final numbers. Print signs and cards last; the planner lists who has moved since you printed, so you reprint only those. If guests look their table up by QR, a late change saves itself within seconds and the next search shows it. If you later send an Occavia digital wedding invitation with online RSVP, replies update this same plan.
Seating chart questions
Is this wedding seating chart maker really free?
Yes. The floor plan, guest import, Auto-seat, all six print sheets, the view-only link and the QR find-your-table page cost nothing, with no card and no trial. Occavia sells digital invitations separately; you only pay if you choose to send one, and your seating plan stays as it is.
Do I need to sign up?
You sign in with Google or a six-digit code sent to your email, so your plan is saved and you can return to it on any device. No password, no card. Your guests never need an account.
Can I print my seating chart?
Yes. Share & print opens six print-ready sheets in your browser, from the floor plan on A4 or A3 and the A–Z seating chart to escort cards, place cards and a caterer list with meals and dietary notes per table. The plan also downloads as a CSV file.
Can I share the plan with my wedding planner or venue?
Yes. Send them the view-only link: they see the floor plan, lists and meal counts without an account and cannot change anything. Anyone with the link can see guests’ names and tables, so switch it off when it is no longer needed; it stops working at once.
Can guests find their table on their phone?
Yes, once you switch on “Find your seat”. Guests scan the QR code, which also prints on the A–Z chart, type at least three letters of their name and see their table highlighted on the room plan with their chair number. No app needed.
How many guests and tables can it handle?
Up to 150 tables with up to 40 chairs each, and up to 1,000 guest rows per import. Each row is one invitation, so a couple or family is one row with its number of people.