ToolPorch / Wedding Seating Chart
Wedding Seating Chart Maker that handles the feuds
Paste the guest list, set your tables, tell it who must sit together and who absolutely cannot — then shuffle until the room works. Free, no signup, and your guest list never leaves your device.
The two rules that make a seating chart hard
Assigning 120 guests to 15 tables is trivial; doing it while every couple stays together and your divorced parents stay apart is the part that eats an evening. Those are the only two constraints that genuinely matter, so they're the only two this tool asks for. Together-pairs are placed as inseparable units; apart-pairs are guaranteed different tables; everything else is shuffled fairly. If your rules are impossible — three people who must all avoid each other across two tables — it says so instead of quietly breaking one, which is the failure mode of doing this with sticky notes at midnight.
Built for the last two weeks before the wedding
The list changes daily right up to the RSVP deadline: a plus-one appears, a cousin cancels, the caterer changes the table size. Your list, rules, and current chart are saved on your device, so edits are incremental — add the name, hit shuffle again (or just swap two guests by clicking them), reprint. No account to log back into, no "premium tier" holding your own guest list hostage, no watermark on the printout.
Chain rule for bigger groups
Need a whole family of five together? Chain the pairs: Mom + Dad, Dad + Kid 1, Kid 1 + Kid 2 — linked pairs merge into one table-unit automatically. Just keep each unit smaller than a table.
Frequently asked questions
How do "keep together" and "keep apart" work?
Together pairs (couples, families) are always placed at the same table — the generator treats them as a unit. Apart pairs (the divorced parents, the feuding cousins) are guaranteed different tables. The shuffler retries until every rule is satisfied, and tells you honestly if your table count makes the rules impossible.
Do I need an account? Is my guest list uploaded?
No and no. Everything runs in your browser; the guest list is saved on your device so you can keep tweaking across sessions, and it never touches our servers. Most seating tools gate this behind a signup — that’s exactly why this one exists.
Can I fix one seat without re-shuffling everything?
Yes — click one guest, then another, and they swap tables. Manual swaps override the rules, because two days before the wedding you outrank the algorithm.
What do I actually print?
Per-table lists — Table 1 with its guests, Table 2 with its guests — which is what the caterer, the calligrapher, and the person setting out place cards all want. The print view strips the interface.
Does it work for non-wedding events?
Any seated event with tables: banquets, galas, rehearsal dinners, corporate dinners, bar mitzvahs. The rules engine doesn’t care who’s feuding.