Wedding seating chart with a QR code
A QR seating sign replaces the crowd around the board at the door: guests scan a code with their phone camera, type their name and see their table. Done well, it is faster than a printed board. Done badly, it is a queue of people holding up phones that will not focus.
What the QR code should open
The code has to open a page where a guest types their name and sees their table, ideally with who else sits there. Three things decide whether it works on the night:
- No app, no login. Guests scan with the camera they already have. A page that asks them to download something or sign in loses half the room.
- Search by name, forgiving. "Grandma June", "June", "june h" should all find her. A list to scroll through is a printed board on a small screen.
- Who sits with them. It answers the next question ("who else is at table 4?") and gets people talking before they sit down.
A QR code from a free generator that points to a PDF of your chart technically works, but guests then pinch and zoom through a list in the dark.
How big to print it
The rule of thumb printers use: the code should be at least one tenth of the distance it is scanned from. A guest a step away (about 1 m, 3 ft) needs a code of about 10 cm (4 in); from 2 m (6 ft), about 20 cm (8 in). Add a little more for dim light.
- Print it on a matte surface: glossy foam board reflects lights and the camera loses the code.
- Keep a white margin around the code (the quiet zone). Do not let the design touch it.
- Test it before the day: print at the real size, put it where it will stand, and scan it with an old phone in the evening light.
When the venue has no signal
The page behind the code has to load, so check the signal (or the guest Wi-Fi) at the venue at the time of day of the reception. Barns, cellars and country estates often have none. Two cheap fixes:
- Print the full list of names, in alphabetical order, with each table under the code. Guests without a phone or without signal read it like a classic board.
- Put the Wi-Fi name and password on the same sign.
Keep the list private
A seating chart is a list of every guest's name. If the code opens a page anyone can find in a search engine, the list is public. Prefer a link that is not indexed and that only works if you have it, and do not put surnames on a sign that faces the street.
Make one in minutes
Wedtide seats your guest list at tables and makes the QR sign for you: guests scan it, type their name and see their table and who they sit with, in 3D. The sign also prints every name with its table in alphabetical order, so it works without signal. The guest list travels inside the link itself and is not stored on any server. Free, no account.