Top Table Plan for a Wedding: Who Sits Where

Build a traditional top table if the whole wedding party is sitting together, facing the room. Build a sweetheart table instead if it is just the two of you up front. Either way, the top table plan is the seating decision every other table in the room lines up against, and it is worth settling before the rest of the table plan starts.

Sweetheart table or traditional top table

There are two ways to seat the couple at a wedding reception, and a top table plan usually starts by picking one.

A sweetheart table seats two: the couple, alone, at a small table set apart from the room. It needs no further seating decisions, no order to work out, and no argument about who sits where. It also means the wedding party sits at guest tables like everyone else.

A traditional top table seats the couple and the wedding party together, facing the room from one long table. Easy Weddings' 2026 survey of Australian couples puts the typical wedding party at 8 or 10 people, including the couple themselves.¹ That is the number a traditional top table plan needs to seat.

How many seats does a top table need

Start from the wedding party, not from a guess. The 8-or-10 figure above covers the couple and their closest supporters, typically the two of them, the best man or best woman, the maid or matron of honour, and the rest of the bridal party.¹ Parents sit at the top table in some families and at a separate parents' table in others; decide which before building the layout, since it changes the count either way.

Once the number is set, the table plan itself is straightforward: one long table, one side facing the room, names placed in the order the couple wants to be seen.

How long does the table need to be

An Australian event hire company lists a 2.4 metre trestle table as seating four people down one side.² A top table seated on one side only follows the same rate, roughly two guests per metre of table. That is our reading of the hire company's per-side seat count, not a rate the hire company itself publishes.

Six people at the top table need about 3.6 metres of table. Eight need about 4.8 metres. Ten, the upper end of Easy Weddings' figure, need about 6 metres.² Check this against the room before ordering tables. A top table that is too long for the space pushes the front row of guest tables back, and a top table that is too short seats the wedding party closer together than the layout intended.

Do you actually need a table plan at all

Yes, for most Australian weddings. Easy Weddings' 2026 report found that 83% of Australian couples run allocated seating at their reception, against 17% who let guests choose their own seat or skip seating altogether.³ Allocated seating is the default, and a top table plan is the first table it has to solve.

Building the top table in the seat planner

The seat planner builds tables of any length and any shape, including a long table seated on one side only. Set the top table first, place the wedding party in order, then build the guest tables around it. Moving a guest between tables updates the whole table plan at once, which matters most in the final two weeks when the confirmed numbers keep changing.

For the guest tables themselves, the wedding seating plan template covers the column structure, and the alphabetical seating chart is the fastest way to sort a long list once the top table is locked.

Frequently asked questions

Who sits at the top table? In the traditional format: the couple, the best man or best woman, the maid or matron of honour, and the rest of the wedding party. Some couples add parents to the top table; others seat parents separately.¹

Does the wedding party have to sit at the top table? No. A sweetheart table seats only the couple, and the wedding party sits at guest tables like everyone else. Both formats are common; the choice comes down to whether the couple wants the wedding party visibly grouped or not.

How long is a top table for 10 people? About 6 metres, seated on one side only, at roughly two guests per metre of table.²

Do parents sit at the top table? It depends on the family. Some top tables include both sets of parents; others seat parents at a separate table close to the top table. Decide this before working out the seat count, since it changes the total either way.

What if the wedding party does not want to sit together? Use a sweetheart table for the couple and seat wedding party members at guest tables, ideally close to the front. There is no rule requiring the wedding party to sit as a group.

The one thing to do today

Decide sweetheart table or traditional top table before anything else in the table plan. Every other seating decision, guest tables, family placement, the order guests are called into the reception, follows from that one choice. Set it in the seat planner, then build the rest of the table plan around it.