Groups and sides (bride’s side, groom’s side, friends)

Lovely Seating gives you two ways to sort guests by who they are. A group is a circle of people, like “College Friends” or “Sam’s Family”. A side says whose guest they are. A guest can have one group and one side.

Create groups

1. 1

   Open Groups

   Go to Guests and click Groups. The Guest groups window opens.
2. 2

   Add a group

   Type a name, pick a colour and click Add.
3. 3

   Or use a suggestion

   Under Suggested, click a starter group to add it. The suggestions are each partner’s family (using your names), Family Friends, College Friends and Work Friends.

In the same window you can rename a group by clicking its name, change its colour by clicking the dot, or delete it with the bin icon. Each group shows how many guests are in it. You can also open it from Overview, using Manage on the Groups card.

Put guests in a group

• One guest: click the Group cell on their row (it says Add group when empty) and pick one. Or choose a Group in their details.
• Many guests: tick them, then click Group in the bulk bar. See bulk edit.
• On import: map a Group, Category or Tags column, and new groups are created for you.

A guest’s avatar takes their group’s colour, so you can spot groups at a glance.

Set each guest’s side

Open a guest, click More details, and choose Whose guest?. The options use your names, for example “Sam’s side” and “Alex’s side”, plus Both sides and Other. To set many at once, select them and use Side in the bulk bar.

Once sides are set, the summary at the bottom of the Guests screen shows a Sides line, with a count for each. It’s a quick way to check the guest list feels balanced.

How groups and sides affect seating

• Groups: Auto-Seat tries to seat people from the same group together, where there’s room. It’s a preference, not a rule.
• Sides: sides are for organising and counting. Auto-Seat doesn’t use them.

For people who really must sit together, use a household or a “Must sit with” rule instead. See households and couples.

Wondering whether to mix the two sides at tables? Our seating etiquette guide covers it.