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About this tool
Design seating arrangements for weddings, classrooms, and banquets with table layouts and attendee dragging.
This seating chart maker turns a guest list into a table plan by calculating capacity from linear table edge rather than guesswork: seats = floor(perimeter ÷ space per guest), using the standard banquet allowance of 22 inches (56 cm) per cover. It then packs guests onto tables largest-group-first so parties stay together, and checks the room against the NFPA 101 occupant-load factor of 15 sq ft per person for assembly use with tables and chairs. It suits wedding planners, event managers and teachers laying out a room.
Open Interactive Seating Chart Maker on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Paste names into 'Guest list — one per line, optional group after a comma'; the counter under the box reports how many guests were read.
Pick an 'Event type (sets the defaults)' such as Wedding or Conference, a 'Table type' (Round 48, 60 or 72 inch, Rectangular 6 ft or 8 ft, or 'Classroom row, 6 ft desk (one side only)'), a 'Space per guest' allowance of 20, 22 or 24 in, and enter 'Room length (ft)' and 'Room width (ft)'.
Read 'Tables needed' with 'Seats per table', 'How that is worked out', 'Table pitch (centre to centre)' and 'Room occupant load' at 15 sq ft each, scan the 'Table assignments' cards, then press 'Copy plan'.
Seat counts are derived from table size and cover width, so they match what rental companies quote.
First-fit-decreasing packing keeps each family or department on one table wherever it fits.
Floor area is converted to an occupant load so you know if the venue is big enough.
Eight at the standard banquet allowance of 22 inches per cover, because the circumference is π × 60 = 188.5 inches. Squeeze to 20 inches per cover and you get 9; give a formal 24 inches and it drops to 7. A 72-inch round seats 10 on the same rule.
Allow 15 sq ft (1.39 sq m) of net floor area per seated person — that is the NFPA 101 occupant load factor for assembly use with tables and chairs. A 60 ft × 40 ft room is 2,400 sq ft and therefore holds about 160 seated guests before you subtract space for a stage, bar or dance floor.
Leave about 60 inches (152 cm) of clear space between the edges of adjacent tables so chairs can be pushed back on both sides and a server can pass between them. For 60-inch rounds that works out to roughly 10 ft centre to centre.
Ten — four along each long side plus one at each end, using 22 inches per cover on a 96 × 30 inch table. Leave the ends empty, as most conference layouts do, and it seats 8. A 6 ft table on the same rule seats 8 with ends or 6 without.