diff --git a/R/build_tt.R b/R/build_tt.R
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..607ed2e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/build_tt.R
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# internal function
+# style_tt() stores style calls and we only want to evaluate them at the end because 
+# some rows may be added, which changes how the style is applied
+build_tt <- function(x) {
+  m <- meta(x)
+
+  out <- x
+
+  # format data before drawing the table
+  for (l in m$lazy_format) {
+    tmp <- out
+    class(tmp) <- "data.frame"
+    l[["x"]] <- tmp
+    out <- eval(l)
+  }
+
+  # draw the table
+  lazy_tt <- meta(x, "lazy_tt")
+  lazy_tt[["x"]] <- out
+  out <- eval(lazy_tt)
+
+  # group the table (before style)
+  for (l in m$lazy_group) {
+    l[["x"]] <- out
+    out <- eval(l)
+  }
+
+  # style the table
+  for (l in m$lazy_style) {
+    l[["x"]] <- out
+    out <- eval(l)
+  }
+
+  m <- meta(x)
+  m$lazy_style <- list()
+  attr(out, "tinytable_meta") <- m
+
+  return(out)
+}
diff --git a/R/group_tabularray.R b/R/group_tabularray.R
index e75d66a0..9ad70746 100644
--- a/R/group_tabularray.R
+++ b/R/group_tabularray.R
@@ -1,22 +1,20 @@
-group_tabularray <- function(x, i, j, indent, ...) {
+group_tabularray <- function(x, i, j, indent) {
   out <- x
   # columns first to count headers properly
   if (!is.null(j)) {
-    out <- group_tabularray_col(out, j, ...)
+    out <- group_tabularray_col(out, j)
   }
   if (!is.null(i)) {
-    out <- group_tabularray_row(out, i, indent, ...)
+    out <- group_tabularray_row(out, i, indent)
   } 
   return(out)
 }
 
 
-group_tabularray_col <- function(x, j, ...) {
+group_tabularray_col <- function(x, j) {
 
   m <- meta(x)
 
-  dots <- list(...)
-
   out <- strsplit(x, split = "\\n")[[1]]
 
   header <- rep("", m$ncols)
@@ -52,10 +50,6 @@ group_tabularray_col <- function(x, j, ...) {
                  i = 1 - meta(out)$nhead,
                  j = z,
                  colspan = max(j[[k]]) - min(j[[k]]) + 1)
-    if (!"halign" %in% names(dots)) {
-      args["align"] <- "c" 
-    }
-    args <- c(args, dots)
     out <- do.call(style_tt, args)
   }
 
@@ -64,7 +58,7 @@ group_tabularray_col <- function(x, j, ...) {
 }
 
 
-group_tabularray_row <- function(x, i, indent, ...) {
+group_tabularray_row <- function(x, i, indent) {
 
   m <- meta(x)
 
@@ -73,12 +67,13 @@ group_tabularray_row <- function(x, i, indent, ...) {
   }
   label <- names(i)
 
-  m$nrows <- m$nrows + length(label)
   tab <- strsplit(x, "\\n")[[1]]
 
   # store the original body lines when creating the table, and use those to guess the boundaries.
   # a hack, but probably safer than most regex approaches I can think of.
-  body <- which(tab %in% m$body)
+  body_min <- max(grep("TinyTableHeader|toprule|inner close", tab)) + 1
+  body_max <- min(grep("bottomrule|end.tblr", tab))
+  body <- body_min:body_max
   top <- tab[1:(min(body) - 1)]
   mid <- tab[min(body):max(body)]
   bot <- tab[(max(body) + 1):length(tab)]
@@ -107,16 +102,10 @@ group_tabularray_row <- function(x, i, indent, ...) {
   # we also want to indent the header
   i <- idx$new[!is.na(idx$old)] + m$nhead 
   if (m$nhead > 0) i <- c(1:m$nhead, i)
-  cellspec <- sprintf("cell{%s}{%s}={%s},", i, 1, sprintf("preto={\\hspace{%sem}}", indent))
+  cellspec <- sprintf("cell{%s}{%s}={%s},\n", i, 1, sprintf("preto={\\hspace{%sem}}", indent))
   cellspec <- paste(cellspec, collapse = "")
   tab <- tabularray_insert(tab, content = cellspec, type = "inner")
 
-  dots <- list(...)
-  if (length(dots) > 0) {
-    args <- c(list(x = tab, i = idx$new[is.na(idx$old)]), dots)
-    tab <- do.call(style_tt, args)
-  }
-
   return(tab)
 }
 
diff --git a/R/group_tt.R b/R/group_tt.R
index 0304e099..07a42484 100644
--- a/R/group_tt.R
+++ b/R/group_tt.R
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 #' @inheritParams style_tt
 #' @param indent integer number of `pt` to use when indenting the non-labelled rows.
 #' @param ... All additional arguments (ex: `italic`, `bold`, `color`) are automatically passed to the `style_tt()` function and applied to the labels.
-group_tt <- function(x, i = NULL, j = NULL, indent = 1, ...) {
+group_tt <- function(x, i = NULL, j = NULL, indent = 1) {
 
   if (is.null(meta(x))) stop("`x` must be generated by `tinytable::tt()`.", call. = FALSE)
   if (!isTRUE(meta(x, "output") %in% c("html", "latex"))) return(x)
@@ -24,11 +24,13 @@ group_tt <- function(x, i = NULL, j = NULL, indent = 1, ...) {
   i <- unlist(i)
 
   if (meta(out)$output == "latex") {
-    out <- group_tabularray(out, i = i, j = j, indent = indent, ...)
+    cal <- call("group_tabularray", i = i, j = j, indent = indent)
   } else if (meta(out)$output == "html") {
-    out <- group_bootstrap(out, i = i, j = j, indent = indent, ...)
+    cal <- call("group_botstrap", i = i, j = j, indent = indent)
   }
 
+  out <- meta(out, "lazy_group", c(meta(out)$lazy_group, list(cal)))
+
   return(out)
 }
 
diff --git a/R/style_tt.R b/R/style_tt.R
index 57bb9dcd..2ddacde7 100644
--- a/R/style_tt.R
+++ b/R/style_tt.R
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ style_tt <- function (x,
                       tabularray_outer = NULL,
                       bootstrap_css = NULL,
                       bootstrap_css_rule = NULL) {
+
   out <- x
   cal <- call("style_tt_lazy",
   # out <- style_tt_lazy(
diff --git a/R/tt.R b/R/tt.R
index 5edc2252..2bb3d227 100644
--- a/R/tt.R
+++ b/R/tt.R
@@ -71,8 +71,6 @@ tt <- function(x,
   out <- meta(out, "nhead", if (is.null(colnames(x))) 0 else 1)
   out <- meta(out, "nrows", nrow(x))
   out <- meta(out, "ncols", ncol(x))
-  out <- meta(out, "lazy_style", list())
-  out <- meta(out, "lazy_format", list())
   class(out) <- c("tinytable", class(out))
 
   # build table
diff --git a/R/tt_tabularray.R b/R/tt_tabularray.R
index fae247fe..2ddb2385 100644
--- a/R/tt_tabularray.R
+++ b/R/tt_tabularray.R
@@ -54,7 +54,6 @@ tt_tabularray <- function(x, caption, theme, width, notes, placement) {
 
   # needed later, apparently
   attr(out, "tinytable_meta") <- m
-  out <-  meta(out, "nhead", if (is.null(colnames(x))) 1 else 0 )
 
   if (!is.null(width)) {
     tabularray_cols <- rep("X[]", ncol(x))
diff --git a/R/utils.R b/R/utils.R
index 7f9ba41e..153fcbeb 100644
--- a/R/utils.R
+++ b/R/utils.R
@@ -29,38 +29,3 @@ meta <- function(x, get, set) {
 }
 
 
-
-# style_tt() stores style calls and we only want to evaluate them at the end because 
-# some rows may be added, which changes how the style is applied
-build_tt <- function(x) {
-  m <- meta(x)
-
-  out <- x
-
-  # format data before drawing the table
-  for (l in m$lazy_format) {
-    tmp <- out
-    class(tmp) <- "data.frame"
-    l[["x"]] <- tmp
-    out <- eval(l)
-  }
-
-  # draw the table
-  lazy_tt <- meta(x, "lazy_tt")
-  lazy_tt[["x"]] <- out
-  out <- eval(lazy_tt)
-
-  # TODO: group the table
-
-  # style the table
-  for (l in m$lazy_style) {
-    l[["x"]] <- out
-    out <- eval(l)
-  }
-
-  m <- meta(x)
-  m$lazy_style <- list()
-  attr(out, "tinytable_meta") <- m
-
-  return(out)
-}
diff --git a/vignettes/tutorial.qmd b/vignettes/tutorial.qmd
index a7c39c49..87d512db 100644
--- a/vignettes/tutorial.qmd
+++ b/vignettes/tutorial.qmd
@@ -508,20 +508,22 @@ tt(dat) |>
     "They love tofu" = 7))
 ```
 
-The `group_tt()` function only includes a few arguments: `x`, `i`, `j`, and `indent`. But whenever we call `group_tt()`, the function will automatically apply a `style_tt()` call to all the new group labels, using any extra argument supplied to `group_tt()` (arguments are pushed via `...`). This means that we can apply all the usual stying options to row labels:
 
+We can of style group rows in the same way as regular rows:
 
 ```{r}
 tt(dat) |> 
   group_tt(
-    align = "c",
-    color = "white",
-    background = "gray",
-    bold = TRUE,
     i = list(
       "I like (fake) hamburgers" = 3,
       "She prefers halloumi" = 4,
-      "They love tofu" = 7))
+      "They love tofu" = 7)) |>
+  style_tt(
+    i = c(3, 5, 9),
+    align = "c",
+    color = "white",
+    background = "gray",
+    bold = TRUE)
 ```
 
 ## Columns
@@ -537,33 +539,22 @@ tt(dat) |>
       "Tofu" = 7))
 ```
 
-As above, we can pass additional styling options to the `style_tt()` function automatically via `...`. This means that all the arguments like `italic`, `bold`, `color` and friends can be used to style spanning column headers:
+Here is a table with both row and column headers, as well as some styling:
 
 ```{r}
 dat <- mtcars[1:9, 1:8]
 tt(dat) |> 
   group_tt(color = "teal", italic = TRUE,
-    j = list("Hamburgers" = 1:3,
-             "Halloumi" = 4:5,
-             "Tofu" = 7),
     i = list("I like (fake) hamburgers" = 3,
              "She prefers halloumi" = 4,
-             "They love tofu" = 7))
-```
-
-Or call twice for different stylings for row and column groups:
-
-```{r}
-dat <- mtcars[1:9, 1:8]
-tt(dat) |> 
-  group_tt(color = "teal", italic = TRUE,
+             "They love tofu" = 7),
     j = list("Hamburgers" = 1:3,
              "Halloumi" = 4:5,
              "Tofu" = 7)) |>
-  group_tt(align = "c", color = "white", background = "teal", bold = TRUE,
-    i = list("I like (fake) hamburgers" = 3,
-             "She prefers halloumi" = 4,
-             "They love tofu" = 7))
+  style_tt(
+    i = c(3, 5, 9),
+    background = "teal",
+    color = "white")
 ```