Table & seat assignment

Seat every guest exactly where you want them

Assign guests to tables, pin them to specific chairs when the event calls for it, and adjust the plan without rebuilding your guest list.

Lovely Seating supports simple table assignments and detailed exact-seat planning — so you use the precision that fits your reception, table by table.

Table-only or exact-seat·Drag and drop·Change anything later

Choose your level
Tables or exact chairs
Work visually
Drag guests into place
Stay within capacity
Open, full, over
Protect key decisions
Lock before Auto-Seat

Assign at the level your wedding needs

Place whole tables in seconds, or pin exact chairs where service and place cards demand it — from anywhere in the plan.

Table assignment or exact seats

Seat a guest at a table and let them pick any open chair, or pin them to a specific seat. Use either level — or both — in the same plan.

Assign from wherever you’re working

Set a table from the guest list, a table’s details, the plan overview or the visual floor plan — it’s the same assignment everywhere.

Lock what’s already final

Protect the couple, parents or a placement you’ve reviewed so later edits — and Auto-Seat — work around them.

Mix both levels in one plan

Exact seats at the head and formal tables; simple table assignments everywhere else. No all-or-nothing.

Unassign without deleting

Remove a placement and the guest returns to the pool — still on your list, ready to seat again later.

How assigning works

Seat your guests in four steps

  1. Step 1

    Place your groups

    Drag family and friend groups onto suitable tables, or set a table straight from the guest list.
  2. Step 2

    Add exact seats

    Pin specific chairs for the head table, formal tables or any position you’ve already reviewed.
  3. Step 3

    Move & swap

    Drag people between tables; drop onto a taken chair and Lovely Seating offers to swap the two guests.
  4. Step 4

    Lock & Auto-Seat

    Lock the placements you’re sure of, then let Auto-Seat arrange everyone else around them.
Editing

Move, swap and adjust as the plan changes

First drafts never survive contact with the RSVPs. Move a guest to another table and the old table frees a place while the new one updates its count.

Drop someone onto a chair that’s already taken and you’re offered a swap — the two guests trade places in one step, instead of unassigning both by hand. And unassigning only removes the placement; the guest stays on your list, ready to seat again.

Every change keeps the guest record connected to their latest assignment.

Capacity

See a table fill up before it’s a problem

Every table has a set number of seats, and each one shows how many are filled, how many are open, and whether it’s full — so you spot the squeeze early.

Try to seat one guest too many and you’re warned first. You can move someone instead, or assign anyway when a high chair or a venue confirmation makes it fine — but the table stays flagged as over capacity until it’s resolved. Nothing overfills silently, and a declined guest stops holding their seat.

Example: assigning Olivia & James’s reception

Fictional sample data, used to demonstrate the product.

Olivia and James seat 126 guests with a mixed approach — exact seats at the head table and two formal family tables, and simple table-only assignments for the rest.

They start from the unassigned panel, dropping broad groups onto suitable tables. Olivia and James are locked at the head table; Mia Collins is pinned to Table 7, Seat 4 after her position was reviewed with the venue. When Oliver Davis lands on a taken chair, they swap instead of reshuffling by hand.

When Table 5 hits its eight-person limit, a ninth guest triggers a warning — so Olivia moves two friends to a table with open seats. Precision where it matters, speed everywhere else.

A chart you redraw — or a plan you adjust

Seating changes right up to the week of the wedding. The question is whether each change means starting over.

Static chart

Every change is a redo

  • Redraw the whole chart when one guest moves
  • Retype names into a separate design
  • Recount seats at each table by hand
  • Track locked-in placements in your head
  • Email a new version to the venue each time
With Lovely Seating

Adjust in place

  • Drag and swap guests without rebuilding
  • Capacity counts update themselves
  • Lock the placements that are already final
  • Declined guests free their seat automatically
  • One plan feeds every chart and export

Assign once, then change anything — the plan stays connected to your guest list, capacity and final charts.

Made for couples and wedding planners

For engaged couples

Seat people visually and change your mind as often as you like — the plan keeps up, so a late RSVP never means starting the chart over.

For wedding planners

Give each client exact seats where the venue and caterer need them, lock the placements that are set, and hand over a clean, current plan.

What to know about table & seat assignments

A table assignment and an exact seat differ

A table assignment names the guest’s table; an exact-seat assignment names the specific chair. Lovely Seating supports both — but your wedding may only need one.

Unassigning doesn’t delete the guest

Removing a placement returns the guest to the unassigned pool. They stay on your guest list and can be seated again at any time.

Capacity warnings don’t always block you

When a table is full you’re warned before the assignment lands. You can override deliberately, but the table stays marked over capacity until you resolve it.

Locks protect placements, not relationships

Locking two guests at a table keeps their current placements fixed. It doesn’t create a must-sit relationship — use a seating rule when they must always stay together.

Continue into the complete seating workflow

Table & seat assignment questions

Do I have to assign every guest to an exact chair?

No. You can assign guests to tables only when exact seats aren’t needed, and reserve exact-chair assignments for the tables or guests that actually require them — like the head table or a plated course.

Can I change an assignment later?

Yes. Guests can be moved, swapped or unassigned as the plan changes. The guest record stays in the plan while only the placement updates.

What happens when I move someone onto an occupied seat?

Lovely Seating offers to swap the two guests — they trade chairs in one step and both assignments stay valid, instead of you unassigning and re-seating each one by hand.

Can I put more guests at a table than its capacity?

You’ll be warned when an assignment would exceed the set capacity. You can continue deliberately — for a high chair, say — but the table stays marked over capacity until it’s resolved. Nothing overfills silently.

Does a declined guest still use a seat?

No. A declined guest stops counting toward active table capacity. If they still have an old assignment, the plan flags it for review rather than letting the stale seat distort the count.

What does locking a seat do?

A lock protects an intentional placement from being changed by later actions like Auto-Seat. It doesn’t create a relationship between guests or guarantee anyone else stays nearby — use a seating rule for that.

Can I assign several guests at once?

Yes. Select multiple guests to assign them to a table, move them together or unassign them in one action — handy when a whole group is heading to the same table.

Not sure who sits where? Read the guide — Wedding Seating Chart Etiquette.

Put every guest in the right place

Start with tables, choose exact chairs where they’re needed, and keep every assignment connected to the same wedding plan.

Start assigning guests

Table-only or exact-seat planning · Change assignments anytime · Works in your browser