Home Wedding Planning Websites + Apps Creating A WordPress Wedding Blog, The Basics

To kick off our new Create A Wedding Blog series, I wanted to give you an overview of the choices you'll need to make and some explanations about what this series is and isn't.

The WP Wedding Blog series is for engaged couples who want to create a WordPress-based site/blog for their wedding. The tutorials and information is designed to help people share information and images about their wedding and wedding plans with their friends and families.

This isn't for those that want to create a commercial wedding blog, though, if that's your goal, you may get some value out of the information provided. I won't be covering things like analytics, advertising, traffic, policies, or SEO which are definitely on the commercial end of the blog spectrum and not the purpose of the series.

WordPress is a free publishing platform that's easy to set up, comes with a powerful set of features, and is designed to make publishing on the Web simple. WordPress can be used for a blog (a site that creates new articles/posts frequently), a static site (a site that largely stays the same over time), or a hybrid of the two.

WordPress is my platform of choice because:

• It's generally easy for beginning publishers and those that have not a lot of tech experience.
• WP is well-maintained and regularly updated by Automatic, it's parent company.
• WP powers 19% of the web so there are a multitude of WordPress resources where users can get info, plugins, templates. Many are free.
• WordPress handles multimedia (images, video, sound) effortlessly.
• Publishing and sharing posts is very easy.
• It's simple to update and maintain for extended periods of time.
• It's FREE.

When talking about WordPress, we're referring to WordPress.org, the self-hosted version of the publishing platform. Self-hosting means that you, the end user, host the script on a server of your choice. You are responsible for installation, maintenance, backups, spam protection - everything. You have unlimited options of themes, plugins, content, etc.

WordPress.com is freemium service. You may host a simple blog on their site for free. Your choices of themes, plugins, and features is very limited unless you upgrade to their paid services. WordPress.com handles spam, maintenance, and other things for you.

WP Beginner, one of our top go-to resources, has a great infographic that simply and perfectly explains the differences between .org and .com.

(We'll be covering these points more in-depth in upcoming posts.)

1. Domain Name. The domain is the URL of your site. http://www.diybride.com is domain name of this site, for example. You may want something like AlexAndChrista.com or TheDurantWedding.com or something decidedly more clever. Start thinking about this now 'cos we can't go any further until you have your domain registered. Domain names usually start at $10.00/year.
2. Web Hosting. For your site to appear online, you'll need a hosting account from one of the many web hosting companies online. A simple blog will generally cost under $10/month.
3. The WordPress Script. This is the engine that runs your site. WordPress can be downloaded to your computer from http://www.wordpress.org. It's free.
4. Theme. Themes are what control the look and layout of your site. There are tons of free and paid WP themes available online. We have lots of resources coming for you; don't worry!