← Event seating chart optimizer
Two tables are rarely the same size as the rest: a head table for the couple and parents, and a kids table that holds every child. If you seat the room by hand, those two are fixed first and everyone else is fitted around them. The optimizer does the same, once you tell it the table sizes and pin the children.
Open the free seating chart optimizer
1. Size the odd tables. In the Different-sized tables box type 1: 6, 3: 7: table 1 (the head table) gets six seats and table 3 (the kids table) seven. Every other table keeps the seats-per-table figure.
2. Pin the children. Anya Patel @ 3 seats Anya at table 3 whatever else is wished. Do the same for each child, and pin the couple and parents to the head table.
3. Add the wishes for the adults. Friends who should sit together, and any pair to keep apart. Pins win over every wish.
4. Read the report. It lists each table with its size and every wish it could not meet, and shows which parties were split.
Twenty-four invented guests at four tables: a head table of 6, a regular table of 8, a kids table of 7 and a table of 8 (only 5 are needed). Seven children are pinned to table 3, and Maya Patel and Tom Reed are pinned to the head table with their families. There are six wishes: Maya with Gil Ward, Tom with Owen Lind, Nina Cho with Ted Moss, Hal Brandt with Vic Hale, Kay Dunn with Una Moss, and Sara Reed apart from Hal Brandt. Families are entered as parties.
| Seating | Wishes met | Parties split | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| In the order typed | 2 of 6 | 4 | 51 |
| Optimized | 6 of 6 | 4 | 63 |
Both honour the pins and the table sizes, so both put all seven children at table 3. The difference is the adults: the search meets all six wishes. Four families are split either way, because a child at the kids table is not at the family table. That is the price of a kids table, and the report names which families it affects so you can decide whether it is worth it.
It assigns tables, not seats within a table. It treats the head table as a round table and does not model a long row of seats facing the room, the dance floor, or who supervises the children. It knows only the rules you typed. It is a starting point for you and your planner, not a promise that every guest will be content.
Pin each child to that table in the wishes (Anya Patel @ 3) and give the table its own size in the Different-sized tables box (3: 7), so the table has exactly the seats the children need. Pins always win, so no other wish can move a child away; the plan is rejected with a message if the table is too small for everyone pinned to it.
Type its number and seats in the Different-sized tables box (1: 6 gives table 1 six seats). Every other table keeps the seats-per-table figure, and capacity checks, the search and late-RSVP re-seats all use each table's own size. The optimizer seats a head table as a round table; it does not model a long row of seats facing the room.
Yes, by design: a child pinned to the kids table is no longer at their parents' table, so their party counts as split. The plan still reports it so you can see exactly which families are split, and every other wish is optimized around the pins.
Related: the general wedding seating chart guide, seating divorced parents, step-free seating and late RSVPs and drop-outs.