Divorced parents and family
Both near the front, neither one closer, and anyone who's fallen out at a kind distance. Set it once as a rule, and your seating plan works around it.
Every Pro tool and no guest limit, free for your first 7 days. No card needed.
If your parents are divorced, the seating plan can feel like the hardest page of the whole wedding. You want them both close, both comfortable, and neither one feeling second best. That's a kind thing to want, and it's very doable.
The gentlest answer is usually two tables: each parent hosts their own, with their partner and their own people, and both sit the same distance from you. Relatives who've fallen out go at different tables, each with people they enjoy. WedBuild holds all of it as rules, so you only have to decide once.
One guest list, every table
Your rules work on the same wedding guest list your online RSVPs fill, so you only ever seat the people who said yes. They come with the wedding seating chart, and on the night your guests find their own seat with a QR code seating chart. Making the whole plan from scratch? Start with the wedding table plan.
What you can do
Every Pro tool is free for your first 7 days, so you can try all of it before you choose.
In your 7-day free Pro trial too. No card needed.
All of it is in your 7-day free Pro trial. No card needed.
Up close
Add a Keep apart rule for your parents and choose Must, or If possible if it can bend. Tick Same distance from us, and Smart Seating keeps them both near the front with neither one closer. A private note, like 'Had a falling-out', is only ever seen by you.
Households always sit together, so a parent and their partner arrive as one. Set each group to sit together at one table, in blocks, or happy to mix, and seat children with their parents or at a kids' table, child by child. Mark a parent of the couple as a Must near you, and older guests or anyone hard of hearing get a quieter spot away from the speakers.
Send each parent their own private link. They group the guests they know from their side and flag who shouldn't sit together, and they never see the chart itself. What they send arrives as suggestions for you to accept, each link shows Not opened yet, Opened or Sent back, and you can switch one off at any time.
Press Seat everyone and Smart Seating tries thousands of arrangements, then offers three plans: Balanced, Families first and Mix the sides. Nothing changes until you choose Use this plan, and Undo puts it back. You can even type it the way you'd say it, 'Mum and Dad are divorced, keep them apart but both near the front', and check each rule before it's added.
“Visual seating chart was a lifesaver. Printed the dietaries straight for the caterer. 10/10.”
How it works
Your seating plan reads straight from your guest list, households and groups included, and RSVPs keep it current.
Keep apart, Sit together and Same distance from us, each with a private note. Or send a parent a link and let them suggest.
Pick the plan that feels right, look at what it flags, and move anyone by hand. Undo is always there.
Which plan has it
A$99once, for 2 years
Seating rules and the chart check
A$199once, for 2 years
Smart Seating: seat everyone automatically
All of it is in your 7-day free Pro trial. No card needed. 14-day money-back guarantee on paid plans.
Compare every planQuestions
Usually at their own tables, each with their partner and their own family and friends, and both the same distance from you. That way nobody is closer and nobody is left out. If your parents get on well, one family table can work too, so it's worth asking them what they'd prefer.
Many couples keep the head table for the wedding party, or sit as a couple at a table of their own, so each parent can host a table nearby. It saves choosing between them. Whatever you decide, Smart Seating leaves the head table to you: it never seats anyone there, so you choose who joins you.
With the parent they're married to, at that parent's table. In WedBuild a household always sits together, so a parent and their partner in one household stay at the same table. If a stepparent helped raise you, seating them near the front with that side of the family is a kind way to say so.
Put them at different tables and give each one people they enjoy. In WedBuild, add a Keep apart rule: choose Must if it can't bend or If possible if it can, and add a private note that only you see. Each rule can hold up to 30 people or groups.
Yes. Send each parent their own private link: they group the guests they know and flag who shouldn't sit together, and they never see the chart. What they send arrives as suggestions for you to accept, and you can switch a link off at any time.
Seating rules and the chart check come with Standard, a one-time payment. Smart Seating, which seats everyone around your rules in one press, is on Pro. Every new account gets every Pro tool free for 7 days with no card needed, and the price page compares every plan.
Guides to go deeper
Who sits where, table by table, with the tricky ones first.
Read the guideA simple method for a plan that works for your whole family.
Read the guideDecide who's coming, gently, before anyone is seated.
Read the guideStill deciding? Compare wedding planning apps in our guide to the best ones in Australia, WedBuild included.
Ready when you are
Start with your guest list today, set your rules once, and let your seating plan work around them.
Every Pro tool and no guest limit, free for your first 7 days. No card needed.
Pay once if you upgrade, never a subscription.