1. Wait for the replies
Start the real chart after your reply-by date, once you know who is coming — usually two to three weeks before the wedding. Before that, sketch only the tables you are sure of: your own, family, the wedding party.
2. Count tables and seats
Ask the venue for the floor plan and how many each table seats comfortably. Round tables usually take eight to ten, long tables eight to twelve depending on their length. Leave a seat free here and there for a late plus-one or a vendor's meal.
3. Decide where you sit
- A sweetheart table for the two of you: easy, and you get a moment together.
- A head table with the wedding party: traditional, and their partners sit nearby.
- A family table: you sit with parents and grandparents.
4. Seat family and the people with wishes first
Parents and grandparents close to you, people who need easy access near the door and away from the speakers, and anyone who must not share a table on opposite sides of the room. Write those wishes down as rules: keep together, keep apart.
5. Fill the rest by group
Friends from school, colleagues, neighbours, the football team: people who know each other relax faster. Mix groups only where they share something, and never seat someone where they know nobody. A household always sits together — it is one invitation.
In the free seating chart maker, type one party per line with its group after a comma, add your keep-together and keep-apart rules, and the plan arranges itself — the same auto-arrange as the Bridewell app.
6. Check, share and print
- Walk the plan with someone who knows both families.
- Send the final plan to the venue and caterer, with dietary needs marked, in the last week or two.
- Choose how guests find their seat: one large chart at the entrance, or escort cards by name.