Wedding Seating Chart Maker — Visual & Easy

The problem with Excel seating charts

Most couples build their seating chart in Excel or on paper. It starts simple — a list of names, a few table numbers — but the moment someone cancels or changes their table preference, everything needs manual adjustment. For a wedding with 150 guests, that can mean hours of painstaking work, cross-checking printed lists, and sending updated versions back and forth with your venue.

Paper charts fall apart even faster. A single late RSVP response can cascade into reshuffling three tables because you moved a family group to accommodate a plus-one, which pushed another couple to a different section, which now puts the groom's uncle next to someone he doesn't get along with. What looks manageable at 40 guests becomes genuinely stressful at 120.

The real cost isn't the time spent — it's the mental load of holding the entire seating arrangement in your head during the final weeks before your wedding, when a hundred other things demand your attention. A dedicated seating chart maker removes that burden entirely.

How Seatly solves your seating plan

Seatly gives you a live visual canvas that mirrors your actual venue floor plan. Drop tables of any shape and size, rotate them to match the room, and then drag each confirmed guest onto a specific seat. The canvas updates instantly — you always see exactly how many seats are filled, which tables have dietary requirements, and whether anyone is still unassigned.

When a guest cancels the week before your wedding, you make the change in 30 seconds. Drag their name off the seat, update their RSVP status, and the freed seat is immediately visible on the canvas. No formula to fix, no colour-code to update, no version to resend. When you're ready, one click exports a clean, professional PDF for your venue and catering team.

• ✓ Drag-and-drop canvas — place, rotate, and resize tables freely to match your venue
• ✓ Live seat availability — see filled and open seats update in real time as you assign guests
• ✓ Round, rectangular, oval & head table shapes — match your venue's actual furniture exactly
• ✓ Dietary tags per guest — vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, kids menu visible at a glance
• ✓ PDF export in A4, A3 or poster size — print-ready output for handouts or entrance signage
• ✓ RSVP integration — only confirmed guests appear in the assignment panel
• ✓ Shareable links — give your planner or venue view-only access without an account

How it works — 5 steps to your finished seating plan

1. 1. Add your guest list. Type guests in manually, import a CSV file from Excel or Google Sheets, or let Seatly pull confirmed RSVPs automatically if you've already used Seatly's digital RSVP feature. Each guest card stores their name, RSVP status, meal preference, and any notes.
2. 2. Set up your venue floor plan. Add tables to the canvas — choose round 8-seaters, rectangular banquet tables, a sweetheart table for the couple, or a long head table for the wedding party. Drag them into position and resize to match the actual room dimensions.
3. 3. Assign guests to seats. Drag each name from the unassigned panel onto a specific seat. The canvas shows a live count of filled and available seats per table. Color indicators highlight dietary requirements so you can group guests with similar needs.
4. 4. Review and adjust. Filter the guest panel by group (family, friends, colleagues) or by RSVP status to catch anyone who hasn't been seated yet. Use the conflict notes field to keep track of guests who shouldn't share a table.
5. 5. Export and share. When the seating plan is final, export a print-ready PDF in the size you need. Share a live link with your venue coordinator or planner. If late changes come in, update the plan and re-export in seconds.

What the seating chart looks like

Seatly vs Excel — feature comparison

Excel is a powerful general-purpose tool, but it was never designed for seating charts. Here's a direct comparison of what you get with each approach for your wedding seating plan.