When to do your wedding seating plan
Most couples find out the seating plan is due late, and usually from someone else: the venue asking for final numbers, or the stationer asking for a table list. Put your date in and you will see roughly how long you have.
When do you actually need this done?
Table plans are usually ordered about 9 weeks before the wedding. Tell us your date and we will tell you the window. Nothing is sent, and nothing is stored.
Two dates decide it, and neither is the wedding
Your venue wants final numbers
Caterers usually need a confirmed head count before the day, and the seating plan is what makes that count real. Ask your venue for their date and work back from it.
Your stationer wants a table list
Anything printed, a table plan, place cards or escort cards, needs the names settled before it goes to print. That is normally the earlier of the two, and it is the one couples miss.
We have not surveyed stationers, so the figure above is a rule of thumb rather than a measured average. Your own two dates beat it. Ask for them, and use whichever comes first.
Start with the guest you already know where to put
Whatever your date says, the plan does not have to be built in one sitting. Start with one name, and it holds everything you decide from there.
Start your plan, free