Seatbay guide
Head table seating
A head table, or top table, is a long table along one side of the room where the hosts sit facing their guests. At a wedding it usually seats the couple and the people closest to them. Seatbay has three layouts to start from: a head table with round tables, a head table with long tables, and a sweetheart table for the couple alone.
Open a head table layoutOpens Seatbay with this layout ready to fill. If you have a plan started already, it opens that: pick the layout under Layouts.
Open a layout
Each opens ready to fill. The head table can have from 2 to 24 seats.
Who sits at the head table
There is no single answer. At many weddings the couple sit in the middle with their parents, the best man and the chief bridesmaid or maid of honour beside them. Others seat the whole wedding party there, or the couple with their closest friends, and seat the parents as hosts of their own tables nearby.
The order along the table also varies by country, by family and by the couple’s own wishes. Choose what suits your families, then lock those seats in the app so nothing moves them.
A sweetheart table
A sweetheart table seats just the couple, facing the room. It avoids choosing who joins the top table, which can help when families are large or complicated, and it lets parents and the wedding party sit with their own partners and friends.
Seating everyone else
Tables nearest the head table are usually given to close family and the wedding party. After that, most couples group guests who know each other. Rules in the app mark any pair you wanted together or apart.
Questions
Do guests sit on both sides of a head table?
Usually only on the side facing the room, so that nobody has their back to the guests. The app draws the head table that way.
Is Seatbay free?
Yes. One event or class with up to 60 guests is free: the room, dragging, rules, the chart as a PDF on A4 or US Letter, the venue’s list, the floor plan and backups. Seatbay Pro ($2.99, paid once) adds more events and guests, Seat everyone for me, place cards, table numbers, poster sizes and looks, the Find your seat link and QR code, and spreadsheet export.
Where does my guest list go?
Nowhere. There is no account, and the list stays in your browser on your own device. You can save a backup file to move a plan to another device or pass it to someone helping you.