Seatbay guide
Round table seating chart: 8, 10 or 12 to a table
Round tables are the usual choice for weddings and dinners because everyone at a table can talk to everyone else. Tables for 8, 10 and 12 are the common sizes. Each picture below is a room for 40 guests as Seatbay lays it out, and each opens ready to fill.
Open round tables of 8Opens 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
Pick the table size you expect to use. You can change the seats at any one table afterwards, from 2 to 14.
8, 10 or 12?
Eight to a table gives each guest more elbow room and makes it easy to talk across the table. Ten is the size many venues plan around. Twelve fits the most people into a room, but guests mostly talk to the neighbours on either side.
The table itself decides what is comfortable. Venues commonly seat 8 to 10 at a 5 foot (about 1.5 m) round and 10 to 12 at a 6 foot (about 1.8 m) round, so ask your venue which tables it has before you settle the number.
Filling round tables
Drag a guest onto a table and they take a free seat; drag onto a seat to choose it. A couple or family moves as one party. If a table of ten has nine people who know each other and one who does not, a rule such as wants to be near helps you place the tenth with a friend.
Tables do not all have to be the same size. Change one table to seven or eleven seats when your numbers do not divide evenly.
Questions
How many round tables do I need?
Divide your guests by the seats at each table and round up: 100 guests on tables of 10 need 10 tables, and on tables of 8 they need 13. The calculator linked below works it out with the room size.
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.