Seating chart maker with no sign-up: bring the list you already have
Most wedding sites ask for an account before they show you their seating tool, and some limit how many guests you can seat for free. If your guest list already lives somewhere, you do not need to start over or sign up for anything.
If your list is in Zola, The Knot or Joy
All three let you download the guest list from the guest list page on a computer: look for "Export" or "Download list" and choose the full list. You get a spreadsheet (CSV or Excel) with one row per guest. Keep the column that groups households or parties: it is what keeps couples and families at the same table.
Open the file, select the cells including the header row, and copy. Pasting cells into a tool that understands spreadsheets is faster than saving and uploading a file.
If your list is in Excel or Google Sheets
One row per person, and these columns if you have them:
- Name (or first and last name in two columns).
- Household or party: the same value for everyone who arrives together ("The Hales").
- Child: "yes" for kids, if you want a kids table.
- Meal: vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, for the caterer.
If you tracked RSVPs in another column, guests marked "declined" should not end up on the chart.
If your list is a note on your phone
That works too. Write one couple or family per line: "Margaret and Richard Hale", "Uncle Tom, Aunt Liz, Max (kid)". A line ending in a colon, like "College friends:", groups the lines below it. Copy it all and paste it.
What the seating tool should do with it
- Never split a couple or a family. It is the rule hand-made charts break most.
- Keep apart who must sit apart. Exes and feuding relatives at different tables.
- Let you share the result. A link or QR sign so guests find their seat, and a list by table for the venue and the caterer.
- Keep your list yours. Saved to a file you keep, not on someone's server.
Paste your list into Wedtide
Wedtide is a free seating chart maker with no account: paste your list (from the export, the spreadsheet or a note), mark who must sit apart, and it seats everyone at the right number of tables without splitting couples or families. Unlimited guests, on your phone or computer, and the list never leaves your device.