Event Seating Chart Planner

---
name: event-seating-chart-planner
description: Builds a seating chart for weddings, dinners and team events from your tables and guest list - keeps couples and families together, honours sit-with and keep-apart requests and head-table seats, puts mobility needs at accessible tables, seats nobody among strangers and fills tables by group. Flags misspelled names, duplicates, conflicting requests and missing seats; prints place cards and meal counts. Includes an offline stdlib Python planner.
---

# Event Seating Chart Planner

You help hosts turn a guest list into a seating chart without the spreadsheet agony. Seating is the job everyone leaves until the last week: the divorced uncle and aunt must not share a table, grandma needs a step-free spot by the door, the plus-one knows nobody, two RSVPs are still missing, the caterer wants vegan and child meals per table, and every change breaks something else. You collect the tables and the guest list, check the list for problems first, build a chart that meets the hard requests, explain the trade-offs and produce place cards and a caterer sheet.

You work only from the information the host gives you. You do not judge family politics: when two requests conflict, say so and ask the host which one wins. Keep the guest list private - do not repeat notes about relationships beyond what the chart needs.

## Files in this skill

- `scripts/seating_plan.py` - reads an event JSON (tables with seats, accessible, kids, fixed head-table guests; rules) and a guest CSV (name, party, group, rsvp, child, needs, diet, sit_with, keep_apart), merges parties and sit-with requests, places them table by table and improves the plan by moving and swapping groups; reports SC01-SC10 and prints the chart, a caterer summary and place cards; `--csv` place-card export, `--json`, `--include-pending` (Python 3.8+ standard library only)
- `references/seating-rules-and-etiquette.md` - how to collect the list, what counts as a hard or soft request, head table and family conventions, accessibility, children, dietary needs and room layout tips
- `references/checks-and-codes.md` - every finding code, its severity and what to do, plus the input format and how the planner scores a chart
- `templates/seating-brief.md` - the summary to send the host (and the venue / caterer)
- `examples/event.json` - a wedding dinner with a head table, an accessible table, four tables of 8 and a kids table
- `examples/guests.csv` - 32 rows with families, friends, work colleagues, a declined and a pending RSVP, a duplicate row, a misspelled sit-with name, a keep-apart pair, a wheelchair user and dietary needs
- `examples/seating-chart.md` - the real planner output on the example

## Workflow

### 1. Collect the tables and the list
Ask for the venue's table plan (number of tables, seats per table, which are step-free or near the exit, a kids table, the head table and who sits there). Ask for the guest list with RSVP, party (people who arrive together: couple, family), group (how they know the hosts: bride family, work, school friends), children, mobility or other needs, meal choice, and any "must sit with" or "keep apart" requests. Put them in `examples/event.json` and `examples/guests.csv` form.

### 2. Run the planner
```
python3 scripts/seating_plan.py examples/event.json examples/guests.csv
python3 scripts/seating_plan.py event.json guests.csv --include-pending
python3 scripts/seating_plan.py event.json guests.csv --csv > place-cards.csv
python3 scripts/seating_plan.py event.json guests.csv --json
python3 scripts/seating_plan.py --self-test
```
Exit 0 = all hard requests met, 1 = a hard request failed or the list has a high finding, 2 = bad input. Without a shell, seat fixed guests first, then the accessibility needs, then the largest groups, and check every keep-apart pair at the end.

### 3. Read the result
- High: SC01 not enough seats (or a group that fits nowhere), SC02 conflicting or broken keep-apart requests, SC03 names in requests or fixed seats that are not on the attending list (spelling suggestions shown).
- Medium: SC04 a guest at a table with nobody they know, SC05 a mobility need at a non-accessible table, SC08 duplicate rows, SC09 parties or requests too big for one table, SC10 a child without an adult from their party.
- Low/info: half-empty or empty tables (SC06), pending RSVPs seated provisionally (SC07).

### 4. Adjust with the host
Fix the list problems first (spelling, duplicates, RSVPs) and re-run. Then walk the host through each table: who is there and why, the lonely guests and the trade-offs. Make manual moves the host asks for and re-run to confirm the keep-apart pairs still hold. Fill `templates/seating-brief.md`.

### 5. Deliver
Return the chart per table, the open questions, the place-card list A-Z, the meal counts per table and in total, and the special needs list for the venue (wheelchair space, high chairs, allergies).

## Example result
29 guests attend (1 declined, 1 pending left out) for 44 seats. The couple, maid of honour, best man and Zeynep (who asked to sit with Selin) fill the head table. Grandma Fatma (wheelchair) sits at accessible Table 1 with the Kaya family; Linda and Richard Moore are kept apart (Tables 2 and 3); the work colleagues share Table 4 with the bride's friends. Sam's request to sit with "Olivr Grant" is a typo of Oliver Grant, Merve Sahin is listed twice, and neighbour Kemal knows nobody at his table. The kids table is empty because children stay with their parents.

## Rules

- Hard requests (keep apart, fixed seats, accessibility) beat soft ones (groups, balance); say clearly which request was dropped and why.
- Never split a couple or a parent and a young child unless the host asks.
- Do not guess at conflicts: ask the host, and keep sensitive notes out of anything printed.
- Re-run after every manual change; the chart is only valid for the list it was made from.
- Pending RSVPs are left out unless the host says to seat them; chase them before printing place cards.
FILE:references/seating-rules-and-etiquette.md
# Seating rules and etiquette

## Collecting the list
- One row per person, including children and plus-ones (use "Guest of <name>" until you have a name).
- Party = who arrives together and must sit together (couple, parent with young children). Group = how they know the hosts; it decides who shares a table.
- Ask the hosts directly for keep-apart pairs (exes, family feuds) and keep this column out of anything printed or shared with the venue.
- RSVP status: seat only confirmed guests; set a deadline for pending ones about 3 weeks before the event, when most venues need final numbers.

## Hard vs soft requests
- Hard: keep apart, fixed seats (head table, speakers, VIPs), accessibility, a young child next to a parent, capacity.
- Soft: sit with friends, tables by group, balanced tables, mixing groups at networking events.
When a soft request breaks a hard one, the hard one wins; tell the host.

## Common conventions
- Weddings: the head table (couple, wedding party, sometimes parents) faces the room; parents and grandparents at the tables closest to it; families of both sides near the front; friends and colleagues further back. Sweetheart table = couple only.
- Family dinners and birthdays: the guest of honour in the middle of the long side, with the people they see least often nearby.
- Corporate dinners: a host from the company at every table; mix departments if networking is the goal (`mix_groups: true`), seat speakers near the stage and the exit.
- Round tables of 8-10 work best for conversation; 12+ means people only talk to their neighbours.
- Avoid a table where one guest is the only one from their group - pair singles with someone outgoing or a similar-age group.

## Accessibility and needs
- Wheelchair users: a table on a step-free route near the door and the toilets, with a chair removed at the place (mark it on the room plan).
- Hearing impairment: away from speakers and the band, facing the room.
- Older guests: away from loudspeakers and the dance floor, near the exit and toilets.
- High chairs and booster seats: tell the venue per table.
- Allergies: list name, table and allergen for the caterer; a printed card at the place for severe allergies.

## Children
- Toddlers stay with their parents. A kids table works for ages about 5-12 when it is next to the parents' tables and has an adult or sitter nearby.
- Count child meals separately (and high chairs) in the caterer summary.

## Room layout tips
- Number tables in a way guests can find (signs on every table, an alphabetical escort-card list at the entrance).
- Keep the path from the door to the accessible table clear.
- Leave 1-2 empty seats across the room for late changes; venues usually allow 1-2 extra chairs per round table, but check the fire-safety capacity.

## Final week checklist
- Final RSVPs and meal choices -> re-run the planner -> host approval.
- Send the venue: table plan, guest count per table, high chairs, wheelchair spaces.
- Send the caterer: meals per table and in total, allergies with names and tables.
- Print place cards and the escort-card list from `--csv`.
FILE:references/checks-and-codes.md
# Checks and finding codes

| Code | Severity | Check | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| SC01 | high | more attending guests than seats, or a party/group that fits at no table with enough free seats | add a table or seats, confirm RSVPs, split the group over neighbouring tables |
| SC02 | high | a sit-with request joins two guests who must be kept apart (request dropped); keep-apart inside one party; a keep-apart pair seated together | ask the host which request wins |
| SC03 | high | a name in sit_with / keep_apart or a fixed seat is not on the attending list (did-you-mean suggestion) | fix the spelling or add the guest |
| SC04 | medium | guest at a table with fewer than `min_known` people from their party, group or sit-with list | swap, or seat them next to a sociable guest |
| SC05 | medium | wheelchair / step-free / walker / mobility / crutches need at a table not marked accessible | swap with someone at an accessible table |
| SC06 | low: table under half full; info: empty table | balance | merge tables or remove one |
| SC07 | info | RSVP pending, seated because of `--include-pending` | chase the RSVP |
| SC08 | medium | the same name twice (seated once), row without a name | check if two different people; add an initial |
| SC09 | medium | a party larger than the largest table (split), a sit-with group that would exceed the largest table (request dropped), a party split over tables | neighbouring tables; free seats at one table |
| SC10 | medium | child at a non-kids table without an adult from their party | move next to their parents |

## Verdict
- **N hard request(s) could not be met** - any high finding.
- **all hard requests met, N soft issue(s)** - medium findings only.
- **all requests met**.

## How the planner works
1. Attending guests only (rsvp yes; pending with `--include-pending`; no/declined skipped).
2. Parties are merged (when `keep_parties_together`), then sit-with requests, unless that joins a keep-apart pair or exceeds the largest table.
3. Groups are placed in order: fixed head-table guests (only they and their sit-with partners use a table with `fixed`), mobility needs, then by group size.
4. Each group goes to the table where the chart's penalty rises least; then the planner moves single groups, whole groups and swaps pairs while the penalty falls.
5. Penalty: keep-apart pair at one table 100, mobility need at a non-accessible table 40, a guest who knows fewer than `min_known` people 12, each extra group at a table 2 (unless `mix_groups`), each extra table a group is spread over 3, an adult at the kids table 3.
The plan is deterministic: the same input gives the same chart.

## Event JSON
`event, date, rules{keep_parties_together (true), mix_groups (false), min_known (1)}, tables[{name, seats, accessib

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