The timeline
| Before the wedding | Seating task |
|---|---|
| 3–4 months | Confirm the venue’s tables and floor plan. Sketch the room layout. |
| 6–8 weeks | Invitations out. Ask for meal choices and dietary needs on the RSVP. |
| 4–5 weeks | RSVP deadline. Chase anyone who hasn’t replied. |
| 3–4 weeks | Clean the list, then make the first full seating draft. |
| 2–3 weeks | Review with family; finalise tables. |
| 7–14 days | Send the caterer final numbers and meals per table (check your contract for their deadline). |
| 5–7 days | Print the sign; order any foam-board or acrylic printing. |
| 1–3 days | Print escort and place cards; reprint anything that changed. |
Why not earlier?
Because answers change. Until RSVPs are in, you’re seating people who might not come and leaving out plus-ones you don’t know about yet. It is fine to start a rough draft early as long as you expect to change it — that is exactly what version history and “reprint only what changed” are for.
Late changes on the day
Someone will cancel; someone will bring a surprise guest. Leave one or two seats free across the room, keep blank cards and a good pen in the day-of kit, and give the venue coordinator the floor plan and caterer sheet so they can handle it without finding you.
Plan it, then print itPaste your guest list, seat everyone on a to-scale floor plan, and print the sign and cards — free, no account.
Open the planner