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Seat everyone with Smart Seating

Choose Smart beside your seating chart, then Seat everyone. Compare the three plans it makes and choose Use this plan. Nothing changes until you do.

Included in
  • Pro

Works on your phone

Smart Seating seats your whole guest list for you. It keeps households together, puts friends with friends and keeps apart anyone you've asked it to. You see its plans first, and nothing on your chart changes until you choose one.

Steps

  1. Open your Visual Seating Chart and choose Smart (1) above the guest list on the right. In a Drag & Drop chart, choose Smart at the top of the To seat column.

  2. Seat the two of you first. Seat everyone leaves the head table to you, so if yours is empty, the Seat everyone card says so and offers to seat the two of you and your wedding party there.

  3. Choose Seat everyone (2). If you've already seated some guests yourself, the tick box below it keeps them where they are.

  4. In about a second you have three plans: Balanced, Families first and Mix the sides. The best fit is first (1). Each one shows how many guests it seats, how many of your rules it keeps and anything Worth checking (2), like a guest who knows nobody at their table. Press a plan to see it on the room.

  5. Choose Use this plan (3). Or choose Try again for three new plans, or Cancel to leave your chart as it was.

See why someone sits where they do

Choose Guests in the Smart tab and pick a guest. Why here (1) explains their seat, and Tables that would suit them (2) lists other tables with a score for each and Move here. Choose Keep them here to pin them to their seat, so Seat everyone leaves them be.

Good to know

  • Changed your mind? Choose Undo below the room, or press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac), as many times as you need.
  • Replies came in after you seated everyone? The Smart tab shows who can't come and who still needs a seat. Fix with the fewest moves seats them and moves as few people as it can. Only fill the empty seats keeps everyone already seated where they are.
  • Not enough seats? Seat everyone tells you how many more you need, and still seats as many guests as it can.
  • The big number on Overview is happiness: how well your seated guests are placed, out of 100. Below the room, Scores shows each table's score, Rules draws your rules on the room and Areas rings the tables in each part of the room, like near the dance floor.
  • No head table? A table named like Bridal table, Head table, Top table or Our table counts as one. Otherwise, seat the two of you at your own table and the planner treats it as the front of the room.
  • Who it seats: everyone coming, and guests who haven't replied yet unless you switch that off in Set up, under Settings. Guests who can't come and vendors are never seated.
  • A Final chart stops being Final when its seating changes. Choose Mark as Final again when you're happy, so Find My Seat shows the new tables. See Mark your final chart.
  • The more it knows, the better its plans. Groups, rules and each guest's needs all count. See Tell Smart Seating who sits together.
  • Seat everyone comes with Pro, and you can use it during the free Pro trial. On Standard, you can set up your rules in a Drag & Drop chart. See What your plan and trial include.

Last checked

Want the bigger picture? Wedding Seating Chart

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