Make a table plan in your browser, free
A table plan generator does two jobs: it lets you see whether the tables fit the room, and it tells you whether every guest has somewhere to sit. Here is how to do both in about half an hour, and what the words actually mean.
Table plan, seating plan or seating chart?
These are the same document carrying different passports. Table plan is the usual British phrase, seating chart the usual American one, and seating plan sits comfortably in both. If you are talking to a hotel, a marquee company or a caterer in the UK, they will say table plan. If you are reading American wedding blogs at two in the morning, you will see seating chart. Nobody will misunderstand you either way.
The confusion is that "table plan" quietly means two things. The first is the master document: the list of who sits at which table. The second is the printed board on an easel by the door that tells guests which table to find. The second is just a display of the first, and you should not start designing the board until the list is settled.
| UK term | US term | What it actually is |
|---|---|---|
| Table plan | Seating chart | The master list of who sits where, and the board that displays it |
| Top table | Head table | The long table for the couple, or for the hosts and speakers |
| Place card | Place card | The small card at each setting with one name on it |
| Escort card | Escort card | A card at the entrance giving a name and a table number |
| Covers | Covers | Catering term for the number of people served |
| Trestle table | Banquet or rectangular table | The long thin table used in rows |
If you are deciding between a single board and individual cards, the comparison of seating charts and escort cards covers the trade-off properly.
What a generator saves you
Most people start in a spreadsheet, one column per table. It works until the moment someone asks whether table nine is too close to the speakers, or whether eleven round tables actually fit in a hall that is twelve metres across. A spreadsheet cannot answer either question, because it has no shape.
Dragging tables on a canvas answers the first question instantly and gives you something you can show the venue. It also catches the arithmetic error that spreadsheets hide: you have 96 guests and 88 seats. The planner warns you the moment the guest count passes the seat count, which is usually well before you would have spotted it in a spreadsheet.
Working through it
- Put the tables down first. Seven shapes are available: round, rectangle, square, oval, U-shape, L-shape and banquet. Add roughly the number you expect, then move them until the room reads sensibly.
- Paste the guest list. One name per line. If you write Name, Group on each line, everyone lands in a colour-coded group straight away, which is far quicker than tagging 120 people by hand.
- Seat the difficult people first. Parents, anyone with mobility needs, anyone who should be nowhere near the band. Do these by hand before anything else.
- Auto-seat the rest. It fills the empty seats group by group, takes the best fit it can find, and then tells you plainly who did not fit. That report is the useful part.
- Adjust and export. Swap names, rename tables from "Table 4" to "Willow", rotate the top table, export.
Choosing shapes
Round tables are the default for a reason: everyone can see everyone, and conversation does not split into two halves. Rectangles and banquet tables pack more people into a narrow room and suit long communal dining, but a guest in the middle of a run of twenty only ever talks to four people. Ovals behave like rounds with a little more elbow room at the ends. Square tables of four make a room feel informal and are the friendliest option for a small party.
U-shape and L-shape earn their place at formal dinners and in awkward rooms. A U-shape works when there are speeches and everybody must face inwards; an L-shape is often the honest answer to a room with a pillar or a bay window in the wrong place. For how many people to put round each, see guests per table.
Worked example: 78 guests in a village hall
Eight round tables of ten would seat 80, which sounds right but leaves two odd chairs and no room for a top table. Instead: one banquet table across the short end for eight, then seven rounds of ten. That is 78 exactly. Put the rounds in two rows of three with one in the centre nearest the door, so the middle of the room stays clear for the cake and the speeches. Rename the rounds after local hills and you have a table plan people will actually read.
Getting it out of the browser
Three exports, three different audiences.
- PNG of the floor plan for the venue and the person setting up the room. It shows the shapes and where they go.
- CSV or TXT of the guest list for the caterer, and for your own mail merge when you print place cards.
- Seating chart poster for the entrance: four templates in A2, A1, 18x24 or 24x36, by table or as an A-Z index. The free download is watermarked and screen-resolution; the print-ready file is a one-off €9.99. Choose A-Z above about a hundred guests, because people look for their own name.
You can also save the whole thing as a .tablout.json file and reopen it later, which is how you keep a copy for a second event.
What it will not do
Being straight about this saves you an evening. The planner has no "must sit together" or "must not sit together" rules yet, so the two cousins who fell out in 2019 have to be kept apart by hand. There is no RSVP or meal tracking, no shared link for a co-planner, and no way to drop in a photograph of the venue or set real room dimensions, so the canvas is a relative layout rather than a scale drawing. There is one plan at a time in a browser, so save a file before you start a different event. And there is no undo, which is worth remembering before you delete a table.
Where your plan lives
Everything stays in your browser's own storage. There is no account, no email address and no copy of your guest list on anyone's server. That also means clearing your browser data clears the plan, so export a project file once the list is settled. Open the planner and paste your list in; if you are planning a wedding specifically, the wedding seating chart guide goes further into top tables and family politics.
Start your table plan
Open the planner, paste your guest list and drag the tables where they belong. Free, no account, your list stays in your browser. Only the print-ready poster file is paid.
Open the planner →Common questions
- Is a table plan the same as a seating chart?
- Yes. Table plan is the British term and seating chart the American one. Both mean the record of who sits where, and both are also used for the printed board displayed at the entrance.
- Do I need to create an account?
- No. The planner opens straight away in the browser and your plan is stored locally on your own device. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no sign-up.
- Can I set rules like keeping two guests apart?
- Not yet. There are no constraint rules, so anyone who must be separated has to be placed by hand. Seat those people first, then let auto-seat fill the remaining seats around them.
- How do I keep plans for two different events?
- A browser holds one plan at a time. Save the first as a .tablout.json file, start the second, and reopen the saved file whenever you need it back.
- Can I print the table plan?
- Yes. The floor plan exports as a PNG, free. A poster can be built in A2, A1, 18x24 or 24x36, by table or as an A-Z index of names; that download is watermarked, and the unwatermarked print/PDF file is a one-off €9.99.