Wedding table plan template
Your table plan does two jobs: it tells guests where to sit, and it tells your venue and caterer how to set the room. Get the layout right first, then the names. Here's how, with a free template you can edit and print.
1. Choose your tables
Most UK venues and hire companies offer the same few sizes. Your choice changes how many people fit, how the room feels, and how easy it is to seat people.
| Table | Size | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| 4 ft round | 1.22 m across | 6 |
| 5 ft round | 1.52 m across | 8 |
| 5½ ft round | 1.68 m across | 9 |
| 6 ft round | 1.83 m across | 10 |
| 6 ft trestle | 1.83 × 0.76 m | 6 (3 a side) |
| 8 ft trestle | 2.44 × 0.76 m | 8 |
| Top table | 6 × 0.9 m | 10 (one side) |
Round tables
The classic for hotels and ballrooms. Everyone can talk to everyone at their table, groups of eight or ten map neatly onto families and friendship groups, and waiting staff can get round easily. They take more floor per guest than long tables.
Long banquet rows
Trestles butted end to end, very popular in barns and marquees. They fit more guests into a narrow room, look spectacular dressed with runners and candles, and suit sharing-style food. The catch: you only really talk to the three or four people around you, and seating big families together takes more thought.
Mix them
There's no rule against a long top table with rounds, or banquet rows with a couple of rounds by the dance floor for families with small children. Try a few versions; it takes minutes in a planner and much longer on paper.
2. Work out how many tables you need
Take away the people on your top table, divide the rest by the seats per table, and round up.
Example: 100 guests, 8 on the top table. 92 ÷ 10 = 9.2, so ten 6 ft rounds. That leaves eight spare seats, which you'll be glad of when a plus-one appears in June.
Then check it fits. Leave about 1.5 m between tables, edge to edge (never less than 1.2 m), and 1.2 m walkways for staff carrying plates. Don't forget the dance floor, bar, cake table and a spot for cards and gifts. The dance floor guide has sizes by guest count.
3. The top table
The traditional UK order, as your guests look at the top table from the room, left to right:
- Chief bridesmaid
- Groom's father
- Bride's mother
- Groom
- Bride
- Bride's father
- Groom's mother
- Best man
Plenty of couples change it, and that's fine. Common alternatives: parents hosting their own tables near you; a sweetheart table for just the two of you; a longer top table that includes partners of the wedding party; or no top table at all, with the couple on a round in the middle of the room. With separated or blended families, sit people next to someone they're comfortable with and don't force couples back together for the photos.
4. Seat your guests
- Keep households together, and children next to a parent.
- Group by how people know each other: school friends, work, family sides. Mixing a little is lovely; one stranger alone on a table isn't.
- Think about ears and legs. Older relatives away from the speakers and nearer the loos; families with buggies near the door.
- Plus-ones sit with their partner, obviously, and friends-of-friends near someone they know.
- Leave it until the RSVPs are in. Draft early, finalise about two weeks before, when your caterer needs final numbers.
In the planner you can paste the list straight from a spreadsheet or your notes (“The Smiths: John, Jane, Tim (child)” works), then press auto-seat. It keeps households together, puts children beside a parent and the two of you in the middle of the top table, and you drag people around from there. It'll warn you about over-full tables or a household split across two.
5. Print the table plan
The board at the entrance can be laid out two ways:
- By table: each table's name or number with its guests underneath. Looks beautiful, and works well up to about 80 guests.
- Alphabetically by surname, with each person's table. Much quicker to scan with 100 or more guests, so there's no crowd round the board.
A3 or A2 is readable from a couple of steps back; print A1 if it's going on an easel. Escort cards (one small card per guest with their table) are a good alternative to a board, and place cards on each setting tell people which chair is theirs.
The planner prints a table plan board in A3 or A4 (the floor plan in the middle, tables either side), fold-over place cards six to an A4 sheet, escort cards 21 to a sheet, and a spreadsheet for your caterer with each guest's table, seat, meal and dietary notes.
What to send your venue and caterer
- A floor plan with table numbers, drawn to scale, showing the dance floor, bar, cake and any band or DJ space.
- The count per table, and which tables have high chairs or wheelchair spaces.
- A list of meals and dietary requirements by table and seat.
A share link from the planner opens your layout in their browser, in 2D and 3D, and guest names stay out of it unless you choose to include them.
Start with a template. Both open fully laid out and editable. Change the room to match your venue, add your guests, and print.