Keep guests together or apart

Tell Lovely Seating who belongs together and who doesn’t. Auto-Seat follows these rules, and the app warns you if a manual move breaks one.

The three relationship types

• Must sit with: always at the same table. A firm rule.
• Would like to sit with: at the same table if there’s room. A wish, not a rule.
• Keep apart from: never at the same table. A firm rule.

Add a relationship

1. 1

   Open the guest

   On Guests, click the guest’s name to open their details.
2. 2

   Find Relationships

   Scroll to the Seating section. Under Relationships, click + Add next to the type you want.
3. 3

   Pick the other guest

   Type to search and click their name. It saves straight away and shows on both guests’ profiles.

Each pair can have one relationship. Choosing a different type for the same two people replaces the old one. Click the × on a name to remove it.

Several guests at once

On the Guests screen, tick two or more guests and click Must sit in the bar that appears. They’re all set to sit together. Household groups the selected guests into a new household instead.

Households: the easy way to keep families together

A household is everyone on one invitation, like a couple or a family. In a guest’s details, Invited with (household) shows their household. Tick Keep this household at the same table and Auto-Seat always seats them together. Plus-ones are always kept with the guest who brought them. More in households and couples.

See every rule in one place

Go to Guests⋯Seating rules. Relationships & seating rules lists your households, Must sit together, Would like to sit together, Keep apart and Access needs.

When rules clash

If two people are set to sit together (by a rule, a household or a plus-one) and also to keep apart, the guest’s details show a red warning. The summary lists it under Impossible rules to resolve. Remove one of the rules.

Auto-Seat skips anyone caught in an impossible rule and seats everyone else. If a group that must sit together is bigger than your largest table, it can’t be seated either. Auto-Seat tells you which rule to fix.

Rules and seating by hand

Rules guide Auto-Seat, but they don’t stop you placing guests yourself. If you seat a keep-apart pair at the same table:

• the table gets a dashed red ring on the floor plan,
• the table’s panel marks both guests with Seated with someone to keep apart, and
• the health check on Overview flags it.