Seating charts tend to fall apart in the last three weeks. The cousin who was a certain yes is suddenly out; the friend who wasn't coming is now bringing a plus-one. A few habits keep it manageable.
When to start
Once 75% of guests have RSVP'd. That's typically 4-5 weeks out. Earlier is wasted work, since a third of your decisions will be rewritten anyway. Later is stressful, because a 100-guest seating job realistically eats 6-8 hours of focused time (and you won't do it in one sitting).
Name your tables
"Table 1, 8 seats" tells you nothing. "Family, parents and grandparents" tells you both who sits there and what to do if someone moves. Two benefits: the printed entrance display reads more cleanly, and if you need to swap two guests last-minute, the category name finds the right table faster than the number.
Plus-ones and kids
- Plus-ones always sit next to their partner, or with the partner's friend group. Never on a dedicated "plus-one table" (awkward).
- Kids: either one dedicated kids' table (worth it from 10 kids up), or next to a parent (for fewer).
- Leave 1 empty seat at every table until the final week. Last-minute confirmations will happen.
Conflict flags
Weddly's seating canvas lets you mark "can't sit with" relationships per guest (exes, family rifts, allergen neighbours). The canvas flags a conflict in red if you accidentally seat them together, and that warning only appears in the planner view, never on the printed PDF.
Printing at A4, A6, A3
A4 for the wedding coordinator's binder, A6 for individual place cards (one name per card), A3 for the entrance display where guests find their table. All three render at exact mm sizes, so you don't have to negotiate the dimensions with the print shop.