Seatbay guide
How many tables do I need?
Divide the number of guests by the seats at each table and round up. For 80 guests on tables of 8 that is 10 tables with no seats spare; on tables of 10 it is 8 tables. The calculator below does the sum and shows roughly how much room the tables take.
Open a round tables layoutOpens Seatbay with this layout ready to fill. If you have a plan started already, it opens that: pick the layout under Layouts.
Tables calculator
The room size is how Seatbay lays these tables out with space to walk between them. Treat it as a rough guide, and ask your venue what its room holds.
The sum
Tables = guests ÷ seats per table, rounded up to a whole table. Seats spare = tables × seats per table, less the guests. A few spare seats are useful: answers change late, and a table with one empty place is more comfortable than one that is squeezed.
Count only the guests who sit at the guest tables. If the couple and their party have a top table of their own, take those people off first.
Common table sizes
Venues commonly seat 8 to 10 at a 5 foot (about 1.5 m) round table and 10 to 12 at a 6 foot (about 1.8 m) one. Long banquet tables are often 6 or 8 feet (about 1.8 or 2.4 m) and seat three or four down each side. Ask your venue which tables it has, since that settles the seats per table.
About the room size
The room size is the room Seatbay draws when it lays these tables out, with space to walk between them and a margin at the walls. It is a rough guide for the tables alone.
A dance floor, a bar, a buffet, a stage or a band all need floor of their own, and venues have their own limits for safety. Your venue can tell you how many it seats.
Questions
How many tables for 100 guests?
13 tables of 8, 10 tables of 10, or 9 tables of 12.
How many tables for 150 guests?
19 tables of 8, 15 tables of 10, or 13 tables of 12.
Should every table be the same size?
It is simpler, but not required. Changing one or two tables by a seat is the usual way to deal with numbers that do not divide evenly.