Seating Optimizer: Claude Skill for Wedding & Event Seating

Manually arranging a seating chart for a large event is a logistical nightmare. Language models often fail at this task because they struggle with hard constraints, frequently splitting up couples or ignoring specific accessibility needs. This skill offloads the complex logic to a dedicated Python solver that handles guest groups, family feuds, and mobility requirements with mathematical precision.

What it does

• Enforces hard constraints by ensuring parties stay together and conflicting guests never share a table.
• Optimizes social cohesion by grouping friends and family so no guest is left at a table of strangers.
• Matches accessibility needs by placing guests near exits, dance floors, or specific table types based on individual requirements.
• Generates venue-ready assets including a printable floor sheet, an alphabetical escort list, and a CSV for place cards.

How it works

1. Input ingestion where you provide a guest list, table counts, and special requests like "keep divorced parents apart."
2. JSON generation that translates the messy human data into a structured schema for the optimizer.
3. Automated solving using a Python script that runs a heuristic search to find the most socially optimal layout.
4. Validation and output where the skill verifies every rule was met and produces the final seating plan files.

Frameworks & tools

This skill utilizes a Python-based simulated annealing solver. It requires python3 but has no external library dependencies.

Why this beats prompting it yourself

Standard LLM prompts struggle to track 100+ guest relationships simultaneously, often hallucinating that a rule was met when it wasn't. This skill uses a real optimization algorithm and an independent verifier to guarantee that no hard constraints are violated.

Use cases

• Weddings and Galas to manage complex family dynamics and bridal party placement.
• Corporate Dinners to ensure departments are mixed or kept together for networking.
• Conferences to seat attendees at banquet tables based on industry tags or interests.
• Classrooms to organize students while keeping specific individuals separated or near the front.

Known limitations

The optimizer assigns guests to tables but does not determine the specific chair order or orientation around a table. It requires an initial guest list with group tags to work effectively.