Checklist
Event seating chart generator
This is the handoff from the event floor plan planner to the head table and the kitchen. The card below is the shape the paid tent file uses: a name, a table, a meal mark, and a fold through the middle.
Head table, then the families
Put the couple in the center. Put their parents on the nearest seats. If two people used Keep Apart, they do not share a table, and that includes the head table. The rule is the same one the assigner uses.
On the classic sheet the head table is furniture. It is 72 by 30 inches at the top of the hall, and its guest seats are zero. The 150 names fill fifteen rounds of 10. Do not add the couple to that 150 or you will invent two extra meals.
A shared Group / Family stays together. Must Sit Together joins a named person even when the group cells differ. Eva Berg must sit with Noah Smith, so the Bergs join the Smiths. That is why Eva is on table 1 in the eight-guest set.
Keep Apart expands to the whole cluster. If anyone in cluster A must avoid anyone in cluster B, the clusters cannot share a table. A value that equals a group name avoids every member of that group. Costa avoids Smith, so those three sit on table 2.
If a cluster contains its own keep-apart pair, seat nobody in it. Ada Cole must sit with Bea Cole and must also stay apart from her. Both names appear under the conflict line, sorted by last name then first name, and the seat count stays zero.
VIP is special only when the group is exactly VIP. Those guests take the seat-bearing table closest to the top of the sheet, then the one farthest left. On the gala that is table 1, the round at the upper left, and it holds guests 001–010.
Everyone else is placed by cluster size, largest first, then by the earliest row in the paste. The first table in creation order that has enough free seats and no conflict gets the whole cluster. Clusters are not split. If none fits, the cluster stays unseated.
Inside a table, seat 1 is the first last name, then the first name, then the original row. The door list uses the same name order: “Berg, Eva - Table 1”. A one-word name is the last name.
Seven meal words and a separate child seat
The kitchen matrix understands Beef, Chicken, Fish, Vegan, Gluten-free, Kids, and Allergy. Anything else is Other. A child seat is its own column. It is not added into the meal total, so the meal columns still sum to the guest list with a difference of zero.
| Word | Icon on the card | Counts as a meal | Child seat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beef | Steak | Yes | Only if the cell says yes |
| Chicken | Poultry | Yes | Only if the cell says yes |
| Fish | Fish | Yes | Only if the cell says yes |
| Vegan | Leaf | Yes | Only if the cell says yes |
| Gluten-free | Wheat with a slash | Yes | Only if the cell says yes |
| Kids | Child | Yes | Often yes, but it is a separate cell |
| Allergy | Alert | Yes | Only if the cell says yes |
| Any other word | None of the seven | Other | Only if the cell says yes |
Generated lists follow one rule so the totals are predictable. If the guest number divides by 10, the meal is Kids and the child seat is yes. Otherwise the meal is (n minus 1) mod 5 through Beef, Chicken, Fish, Vegan, and Gluten-free, and the child seat is no.
That is why 150 classic guests are 30 Beef, 30 Chicken, 30 Fish, 30 Vegan, 15 Gluten-free, and 15 Kids, with 15 child seats. Eighty barn guests are 16, 16, 16, 16, 8, and 8. The columns match the list. They do not match a doctor’s note.
An allergy cell is a count for the banquet kitchen so the table card and the matrix agree. It does not diagnose anyone, choose a treatment, or replace the venue’s own allergy process. Say that out loud when you hand the sheet over.
The same limit applies to the red rings. A gap under 60 inches, or under 1.5 metres, is a planning mark. It is not a fire-code certificate and it is not an ADA survey. The hall’s own plan still governs.
The paid blueprint ZIP includes the matrix as CSV and as PDF. For the eight-guest body, table 1 is 1 Beef, 0 Chicken, 1 Fish, 1 Vegan, 1 Gluten-free, 0 Kids, 1 Allergy, 0 Other, and 0 child seats. Table 2 holds the Kids meal and the one child seat.
Cards are 3.5 by 4 inches. Letter and A4 each hold four. The fold is the horizontal line at mid-height, and the cut is the dashed rectangle. Preview one card on the table plan template. The file of every card is paid.
Families of a wedding, including the six families of 8 and three families of 4 on the garden sheet, are arranged on the wedding seating chart maker. The A–Z line is free through 400 names. The 24×36 poster, with 0.125 inch bleed, is paid.
How many of those cards you will need starts with the comfortable count on the banquet hall capacity calculator and the live fit on the banquet room layout planner. Eight at a 60 inch round is the comfort number. Ten is the packed classic.
Paste the header exactly, or start from the sample CSV on the card page. Trim is automatic. “yes” in the child-seat column is the only way a chair is counted. A blank cell is no. Names and groups are case-sensitive, so “Smith” does not match “smith”.
Hand the venue three things: the dimensioned sheet, the matrix whose columns sum to the list, and the door board in last-name order. Keep the guest file on your own computer. This site does not store it.