How many guests fit at a round or long table?
Updated · 3 minute read
Your venue will tell you what tables it has. What it won't always say is how many people fit at each without guests knocking elbows. These are the usual numbers for UK venues with standard banqueting chairs.
Round tables
Round tables are measured across the middle, usually in feet.
| Table | Comfortable | At a squeeze |
|---|---|---|
| 4 ft (122 cm) round | 6 | 8 |
| 5 ft (152 cm) round | 8 | 10 |
| 5 ft 6 in (168 cm) round | 10 | 11 |
| 6 ft (183 cm) round | 10 | 12 |
"Comfortable" leaves room for a plate, glasses and elbows. "At a squeeze" works for a buffet or a short meal, or if your chairs are slim. It gets cramped for a long, formal dinner with several courses.
If your venue has a mix of sizes, use the larger tables for families with children, who need space for high chairs and fidgeting, and for tables where you'll be serving sharing platters.
Long and trestle tables
Trestle tables are usually 6 ft (183 cm) long and about 2 ft 6 in (76 cm) wide.
- One 6 ft trestle seats six, three down each side, or eight if the chairs are slim.
- Put two end to end and you have a 12 ft table seating 12 to 14. The two seats where they join become one gap.
- People can sit at the ends of a single trestle, but not usually at the ends of a long run of them, where the end seat blocks the aisle.
Long tables in rows (the "banquet" look) fit more people into the same room than rounds, because there's less wasted space between tables. The trade-off is that guests can only really talk to the people beside and opposite them.
The top table
A top table is usually a long table with everyone on one side facing the room. Allow about 60 to 70 cm of table per person. A 6 ft trestle seats three comfortably on one side.
So an eight-person traditional top table needs around 16 ft (5 m) of table, which is three trestles end to end. Check your venue's room has space for it.
Leave room to move
The tables are only half the sum. Guests need to push their chairs back, and staff need to get between tables carrying plates.
- Allow about 1.5 m (5 ft) between the edges of neighbouring round tables.
- Leave a clear route from every table to the doors and toilets.
- Keep space in front of the top table for speeches and photos, and around the cake table.
Venues usually know the comfortable capacity of their room for each layout. Ask for it, and believe it.
Working out how many tables
Divide your guest count by the seats per table and round up. For 120 guests at 5 ft rounds of 10, that's 12 tables, plus the top table. Our free table calculator does this, including the top table, and shows how many seats you'll have spare.
Spare seats are useful. A table of nine instead of ten gives you room for a last-minute guest or a high chair, and makes a slightly cramped table comfortable.
Square tables
Square tables are less common at weddings but some venues have them. A 4 ft (122 cm) square seats four, one on each side, or eight with two to a side if the chairs are slim. Pushed together, squares make a long table that seats two down each side per square.
Mixing shapes in one room
You don't have to choose one shape for the whole room. A common layout is a long top table, rounds for most guests, and a couple of long tables for big groups of friends who'd rather sit together. Long tables can also fill awkward corners where a round won't fit.
If you mix shapes, give each table its own number of seats on your plan rather than assuming every table holds the same.
A worked example
Say you have 120 guests, a traditional top table of eight, and 5 ft round tables.
- Take the top table out first: 120 minus 8 leaves 112.
- At 10 per round, 112 needs 11.2 tables, so round up to 12.
- Twelve tables of 10 seat 120, which leaves 8 spare seats.
Those spare seats are worth keeping. Spread them around so several tables have nine rather than ten, which makes them more comfortable and leaves room for a late guest or a high chair.
Trying layouts in Seats Plan
In Seats Plan you add tables in the shapes and sizes your venue has, set the seats at each, and see them on a plan of the room alongside the dance floor, bar and doors. You can make a table bigger or smaller, drag it around, and see straight away whether everyone fits before you send anything to the venue.