How many tables do I need?
Guest count in, table count out — plus chairs, linens and the floor space it all needs.
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Guide · 5 min
Free printable seating chart template
Sometimes you want the paper version — a sheet with the right number of tables and the right number of lines under each, so you can sit at the kitchen table with a pencil. Set it up below and print it.
Your sheet
96
Tables—
Lines to fill in—
Pages when printed—
The CSV has one row per seat, which is the shape venues and caterers ask for — and the same shape SeatingSorted imports, if you would rather not fill it in by hand.
What should a seating chart template include?
One line per seat, not one line per table. It looks more verbose and it is the reason the sheet survives contact with reality: when a guest drops out you strike one line, and when someone is added you write on the line below. A sheet with "Table 4: Anna, Ben, Cara, Dev…" in a single cell has to be rewritten every time anything moves.
The columns worth having are the guest's full name as it should be printed on a place card, and — if the same sheet is going to the caterer — a dietary column. Anything else belongs on a different sheet.
When should you fill it in?
After your RSVP deadline and before your final numbers date, which is usually a window of one to two weeks. Doing it earlier means doing it twice: the average 120-guest wedding moves by four to six people between the deadline and the day. There is a longer guide on the timing.
Pencil, not pen
Sounds trivial. It is the single most common regret of anyone who has done this on paper — because the seating chart is never finished when you think it is finished, and a sheet covered in crossings-out is the one that gets misread by whoever writes the place cards.
Common questions
What should a wedding seating chart include?
Every table, numbered or named, with one line per seat and the guest's full name as it should appear on a place card. Add a column for dietary requirements if you are handing the same sheet to a caterer.
Should I write the seating chart in pen or pencil?
Pencil, until final numbers are in. Between the RSVP deadline and the day, the average wedding of 120 guests changes by four to six people, and every one of those changes moves somebody.
Can I use this template with a spreadsheet?
Yes — the CSV download opens in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets with one row per seat, which is the format most venues and caterers ask for.
Next
A free RSVP tracker you can actually keep up to date
One row per invitation, the columns that matter, and a download that opens anywhere.
When should you do your wedding seating chart?
Everyone leaves it too late, then does it twice. Here is the timeline that avoids both.