What is in the template
A plain CSV with one header row and four example rows you can delete once you start typing. The headers are Full Name, Email, Phone, Party, RSVP, Meal Choice, Allergies, and Notes. Because it is a CSV and not a locked spreadsheet, everything opens it: Google Sheets, Excel, Apple Numbers, and the Seatful importer. No formulas to break.
Use it in Google Sheets
The import route gives you the cleanest result, especially for phone numbers.
- Download the template, then open a blank spreadsheet at Google Sheets.
- Choose File > Import > Upload and drag the CSV into the window.
- Set import location to Replace spreadsheet, leave the separator on detect automatically, and turn off "Convert text to numbers, dates, and formulas" so phone numbers stay as typed. Click Import data.
- Keep the header row, then lock it with View > Freeze > 1 row so the column names follow you down a long list.
Quicker alternative: File > Open > Upload and drop the CSV in. Sheets opens it as its own file, which is fine if you are not fussy about number conversion.
Then hit Share and add your partner as an Editor. One file you both edit beats two files you email back and forth, and File > Version history shows who changed what. To work through replies, use Data > Create a filter view rather than a plain filter: it shows you only the blank RSVP rows, or sorts by Party to group households, without changing what your partner sees on their screen.
Use it in Excel
- Double-click the .csv to open it directly. That is the fast path if you just want to look.
- For real control, open a blank workbook and choose Data > From Text/CSV, pick the file, and check the preview. Click Transform Data to set the Phone column type to Text before it loads, or Load to bring it straight in.
- Save it as a workbook: File > Save As, then Excel Workbook (.xlsx). A CSV cannot store formatting, column widths, filters, or extra sheets, so anything you style disappears when you close it.
- Freeze the header with View > Freeze Panes > Freeze Top Row, and add sorting with Data > Filter so you can pull up everyone who has not replied.
One gotcha catches almost everyone: Excel treats the Phone column as numbers. Leading zeros vanish, and long international numbers turn into scientific notation like 1.23457E+11. Fix it before you type by selecting the phone column and setting Home > Number Format > Text, or set that column to Text in the From Text/CSV wizard. If Excel already mangled a batch, re-import, because changing the format afterwards does not bring back dropped digits.
What columns your guest list actually needs
| Column | What it is for | Essential? |
|---|---|---|
| Full Name | The name as it should read on a place card | Essential |
| Where an RSVP link goes | Yes, for online RSVPs | |
| Phone | Day-of contact for anyone you may need to reach | Optional |
| Party | The household or group this person arrives with | Essential for seating |
| RSVP | Yes, No, or blank while you wait | Essential |
| Meal Choice | What they picked, which becomes the caterer count | If you offer choices |
| Allergies | Dietary needs and medical allergies, kept separate | Optional, do not skip |
| Notes | Everything else: plus-one of, step-free access, do not seat near | Optional |
Party is the column people skip and later wish they had filled in. It is the household or group a guest arrives with, like "Rivera Family" or "College Friends", and it is what keeps people who came together sitting together. Fill it in as you type each name, because reconstructing it from memory later is tedious.
Give every person their own row, not every household. A row reading "Mr and Mrs Rivera" is one row for two chairs, two meals, and two place cards, and it has to be split the moment you seat the room. One person per row, with the household in Party, means your row count is your headcount and your meal counts add up on their own.
Keep the header row as it is
The headers are how an import knows which column is which. Leave a column blank rather than deleting it, and add your own columns if you need them, such as a mailing address for invitations. Just keep the existing headers spelled the way they came.
How to build the list without losing your mind
The hard part is not the spreadsheet. It is deciding who is on it, in an order that still lets you change your mind:
- Start with the non-negotiables. The two of you, immediate family, the wedding party. That group is never in question, and it gives you a floor to count up from.
- Build in tiers, not one long list. Tier A is must invite, tier B is would love to, tier C is if there is room. Put the tier in Notes so you can sort by it, and when the budget comes back tight you cut a tier instead of relitigating every name.
- Handle the A-list and B-list quietly. Mail the A-list first and send B-list invitations as declines arrive, but keep that second round at least six weeks out so it never reads as an afterthought.
- Give parents a number, not a blank page. Asking each side for their top 15 names is a much easier conversation than cutting their list of 40 later.
- Collect the address and the dietary note when you collect the name. Chasing the same person twice is the real work of a guest list, and it always lands in the busiest week.
- Track plus-one names, never "and guest". A placeholder cannot be seated, given a place card, or counted for a meal. Type the real name in as soon as you have it.
- Lock the list twice: once before invitations go out, and again for real at your RSVP deadline. In between, keep one file in one place that you both edit. Two copies on two laptops is how a guest gets invited twice, or not at all.
Where a spreadsheet stops working
A spreadsheet is genuinely good at the first job. Typing names is fast, sharing is easy, nothing to learn. Keep using it to collect the list. It starts to fight you when replies begin arriving:
- Replies come in by text, email, and mailed card, and every one gets re-keyed into the RSVP column by hand.
- Plus-ones arrive as new people who need their own rows, so the list keeps shifting under whatever you sorted last.
- Meal counts get recounted manually on every change, which means the number you gave the caterer last week is quietly already wrong.
- There is no room in a spreadsheet. No tables, no seats, no way to see that table 6 is a seat short because a couple declined.
That handoff is what Seatful is for. Import this exact CSV, or an Excel .xlsx if you saved it as one, and it reads the name, email, phone, meal, and allergy columns straight from the header row, then flags likely duplicates before anything is added. The list becomes a room: drag names onto seats, with parties kept together. Send each guest a private RSVP link that opens in any browser, no app and no account, and their reply flows back in. A decline frees that seat automatically, an accepted plus-one joins with their own name and never overwrites yours, and meal counts update as responses land. Then print the chart, place cards, table numbers, and a caterer report from the same plan.
Where to go next
Fill in the template, then build your chart free in the browser. If you would rather sketch on paper first, the printable seating chart template pairs with this file. For the full order of operations, read how to make a wedding seating chart, and before you commit to a table count, check how many guests fit per table.