jidd

Wedding WordPress

In case you happen to find this blog, and happen to know who I am. I am getting married next year. We are having two events in two different countries, so we decided to save paper and do the rsvp’s online. We wanted to make things as simple as possible, and let people have the ‘choice’ to go to either event or both, but directing them in such a way that not a bit of info is missed because that would be extra work for us across two continents.

So what is the point of me telling you all of this?

I decided to create this wedding site for the rsvp’s in WordPress. This has proven to be a pretty difficult yet very useful experience. To do the rsvp forms, we wanted to do it in steps to help the user along, so I need to keep track of sessions, form variables, security, javascript functionality, front in login and logout, and communication with the database directly.

All in all I needed to build a dynamic PHP site within WordPress! And I actually did it. I did it without modifying a single file from the WordPress build. It is all done with plugins. Plugins that I didn’t even have to write or touch either. Keep in mind that for the theme I had to get in there and mod some things, because the theme I went with was simply the WordPress default modified beyond recognition. Everything else though, everything in that list of functionalities, I accomplished without touching one PHP file. I stayed within the plugins and templates folders and that was it.

Keep in mind that I know this is what you are supposed to do and what WordPress is meant to be able to do all along. Why I am writing this post is because even though this is what you can do, most developers don’t want to try because they have their favorite or their own CMS’s out there. I say why not? WordPress is an opensource blog with plugin capabilities that allows it to be what you want it to be with numerous plugins provided by a bunch of people who may or may not want the same thing as you.

I have the site finished, though I won’t post the link yet because well it’s kind of private right now, and I’m not finished with the theme. But when it is all done, and no longer in real use, then maybe 😉

Anyway, it’s the 4th of July, zeet!

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Jim Isaacs

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Comments

16 responses to “Wedding WordPress”

  1. karynn Avatar
    karynn

    Could you please list the plugins you will be using? My sister asked me to create a site for her wedding, with rsvp’s, etc and so far the plugins I’ve found seem to be lacking…
    Thanks!

    Reply
  2. jimisaacs Avatar
    jimisaacs

    karynn,
    Yes I definitely will list the plugins.
    It is actually complete, I don’t want to post the link just yet but I will post the plugins that are required for it to work.

    The two most important ones:
    Exec-PHP
    Text Control
    This one is important to me, because of the people in two countries situation.
    qTranslate
    Again this one is important… same reason.
    WP Geo
    This one might be able to replace the previous one, but it seems to still be in development.
    UMapper

    Now noticing there is no RSVP plugin here, it is because everything is actually written within WordPress’s static pages. The plugins so far have allowed this to happen easily.

    Next, here are plugins that are very Helpful in development. It is very useful to have these when developing in WordPress itself.

    WordPress Development:
    Plugin Central
    WP-DBManager
    WP-phpMyAdmin
    WP Developer Assistant
    My Page Order
    AskApache RewriteRules Viewer

    A little extras that I never go without:
    Google XML Sitemaps
    All in One SEO Pack
    Search & Replace

    Reply
  3. Wordpress Themes

    WordPress Themes…

    WordPress is just a great tool. I use it with free WP themes as CMS for customers….

    Reply
  4. jimisaacs Avatar
    jimisaacs

    This is the last one of these comments I will tolerate.
    Anything else simply plugging your site, I will delete, and then I’ll comment bash it all over the internet.

    Reply
  5. Bypeprige Avatar
    Bypeprige

    A guy asks a lawyer what his fee is. “I charge $50 for three questions,” the lawyer says. “That‚Äôs awfully steep, isn‚Äôt it?” the guy asks. “Yes,” the lawyer replies, “Now what‚Äôs your final question?” 😉

    Reply
  6. nicole Avatar
    nicole

    the joke is real funny. 🙂

    Reply
  7. lily Avatar
    lily

    Hi, this may be asking for too much, but is there a way you’d b willing to share the site? I’d like to see how it all comes together.

    Thanks!

    Reply
    1. jimisaacs Avatar
      jimisaacs

      I will…
      but not before my wedding. It is a site I’m trying to keep private at least until then.
      I might be willing to consider a private share before then, but you, as an individual, have to earn my trust somehow. Which I’m sorry to say, but posting a comment does not do that.

      The site has taken on a more simplified approach since my original post. There is not going to be an event in the United States anymore, only international, so there is no need to have multiple event RSVPing. Just a simple, “are you coming? who are you bringing?” kind of thing.
      It’s better this way, because it’s less to plan, but I would’ve liked to have figured this out, before I built the site being ready for it.

      Reply
  8. lily Avatar
    lily

    no problem, i totally understand. i hope the site comes out nicely!

    Reply
  9. Brian Hatano Avatar
    Brian Hatano

    So how’d you do the RSVP? I’m trying to do the same for our wedding site with guests from U.S. and Japan. I don’t really have any programming experience, just hashing WP pieces together.

    Reply
    1. jimisaacs Avatar
      jimisaacs

      That’s all really this post is about, hashing WordPress pieces together, but doing so without touching the WordPress core.
      I’ve done it with a combination of plugins and post content.
      Being a developer, I know it would have been better to make the entire thing a plugin, or integrate it into a theme. But the idea is there.
      I just can’t quite share the whole thing yet. 😉

      Unfortunately for my current method, I will say that you still need substantial programming experience. It is based on executing PHP from within your blog’s static pages.

      Like I said, being a developer I know of more modular or “correct” ways, but this was just getting it done, and getting it done almost right, instead of completely wrong.

      Reply
  10. PolkaSpotFarm Avatar
    PolkaSpotFarm

    i'm am trying to come up with an RSVP for my wedding site, if you are at all willing to explain a little more, my fiance can write in PHP, but i have no idea what to tell him to do! lol

    I can give you my email if you are willing to help a fellow bride out! 🙂

    Reply
    1. jimisaacs Avatar
      jimisaacs

      The site that I had is kind of out of commission at the moment, but I did see that there was an RSVP plugin released recently.
      Check out the recent plugin releases on http:/wordpress.org

      Reply
  11. PolkaSpotFarm Avatar
    PolkaSpotFarm

    I finally just started using cforms, It works even as simple as I did things. you can see what we did here: http://scott-n-christi.com/

    Reply
    1. jimisaacs Avatar
      jimisaacs

      Looks like a good start. I will say one thing though, making your own database table will help a lot. something like “wp_guests”. It helped us a lot when we just wanted to do a simple export and give an excel to someone really fast. It also help because you defined the structure. If you are not comfortable with MySQL check out the Pods CMS plugin. It makes tables for you also.

      Reply
  12. Steve Robbins Avatar
    Steve Robbins

    yes cforms is easy and simple. I have tied this one…

    Reply

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