← Event seating chart optimizer
Left to itself, a seating plan drifts into blocks: the bride's side at the tables near one wall, the groom's near the other, and two families who meet once a decade sit twelve feet apart. Mixing the sides is a choice, and it costs something, because people at a table are usually seated with the people they know. The optimizer lets you set how hard it pushes, and tells you what the push cost.
Open the free seating chart optimizer
1. Label each guest's side. Add a third column to the guest list: Ada Okoye | | Bride side. The second column is the household or party and can stay empty. Any label works.
2. Choose Spread. In the Groups box pick Spread each group across tables (mingle). Each pair from the same group at one table now carries a small penalty, so every side is divided as evenly as the tables allow.
3. Keep your real wishes. Friends who must sit together, and anyone to keep apart. Wishes, parties and pins outweigh the mixing nudge.
4. Read "Groups by table". The report lists how many of each side sit at every table, so you can check the mix with your own eyes.
Twenty-four invented guests at three tables of 8: twelve on the bride's side and twelve on the groom's. There are seven wishes, mostly friends within a side, plus two that cross sides (Moe Marsh with Nell Tran, and Hana Hale with Kit Marsh). No parties are entered, so the only thing the sides have in common is the label.
| Seating | Wishes met | Most from one side at a table |
|---|---|---|
| In the order typed | 6 of 7 | 8 |
| Ignore groups | 7 of 7 | 5 |
| Spread each group | 7 of 7 | 4 |
The list typed bride's side first fills table 1 with eight people from one side and table 3 with eight from the other. A search that ignores groups meets every wish but still leaves one table with five from the same side. Spread gives each side four at every table, and still meets all seven wishes, because the nudge is weaker than a wish. In this small example mixing was free; with many same-side wishes it would not be, and the wishes would win.
It balances head-counts by label, not personalities. Two families who dislike each other need an avoid-wish, not a group. It does not know the venue, seat positions within a table, or whether a particular mix will be comfortable for your guests. It knows only what you typed, and it is a starting point for you and your planner.
Add a third column to the guest list with each guest's side (Anya Okoye | | Bride side) and set Groups to Spread each group across tables. The search then adds a small penalty for every pair from the same group at one table, so each side is divided about evenly. Wishes still count more than the nudge, so friends you asked to sit together stay together.
Not in the worked example: Spread still met all 7 wishes. A mixing nudge is deliberately weaker than a wish, a party or a pin, so when the two conflict, the wish wins and the report shows how the group landed. If you want a group together instead, choose Seat each group together.
Yes. A group is any label: Singles, Work friends, Kids, College. Spread suits groups you want to meet people (singles, colleagues), and Seat each group together suits groups that know each other. The report lists each group's head-count at every table.
Related: the general wedding seating chart guide, seating divorced parents, a kids table and a head table and late RSVPs and drop-outs.