How many tables do I need?
Updated
Divide your guests by eight and round up. That is the answer for 60 in rounds, which is what most venues stock, and it is right more often than not. The calculator below does the same sum for the other common sizes, takes the head table off first, and tells you how much floor the result will need before you promise anyone a headcount.
| Table | Seats | Tables | Spare | Sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 13 | 4 | 1,300 | |
| 9 | 12 | 8 | 1,320 | |
| 10 | 10 | 0 | 1,210 | |
| 6 | 17 | 2 | 770 | |
| 8 | 13 | 4 | 780 |
13 × 60 in round, laid out to scale.
Plan this roomCount the guests you will actually seat
Start from the number who have said yes, not the number you invited, and add anyone who needs a chair but is not on the guest list: the photographer if they eat with everyone, a band who are fed in the room, a toddler who needs a high chair. Then take off whoever is sitting at the head table or a sweetheart table, because they are not filling the rounds. That is the number to put in the calculator.
Bigger tables mean fewer of them, not a smaller room
Going from 60 in rounds to 72 in rounds seats ten instead of eight, so 100 guests need ten tables instead of thirteen. The room does not shrink by the same amount, because each bigger table needs the same 5 ft of clearance around a larger circle. What you gain is fewer centrepieces, fewer table numbers and fewer places for a single guest to end up stranded. What you lose is conversation: across a 72 in table, people talk to the two beside them and nobody else.
What to do with the spare seats
A guest count rarely divides evenly, so most charts end with a few empty chairs. Spread them out rather than leaving one table half full: a table of six in a room of eights looks like a mistake, while seven at several tables does not. Ask the venue to take the extra chairs away on the day so nobody sits next to a gap. If the spares come to more than half a table, try the next size down, or one table with comfortable spacing.
Standard or comfortable spacing
Standard is the number venues quote and caterers price against. Comfortable gives one place back on every side people sit along, so a 60 in round seats seven and an 8 ft banquet table seats six. Choose comfortable for a long plated dinner, or when there is a tall centrepiece people have to talk past. It costs you roughly one extra table for every eight, which the calculator shows when you switch it.
From a number to a floor plan
The floor space figure is the tables alone, with chairs and a 5 ft gap between table edges. The dance floor, the bar, the buffet and the stage all come on top, and so does a clear route from the door to the tables. Draw the room to scale before you sign for it. The planner lets you enter the room's measurements, drop in the tables this page suggested and see whether they really fit, then seat everyone at them.