Table of Contents

• Before you start
  • Theme requirements
  • Theme files
• Theme installation
  • Import the demo data
• Theme setup
  • Set your homepage
  • Open the Site Editor
  • Edit the homepage
  • Update your site identity
  • Edit the headers
    • Change the homepage hero image
    • Change a page hero image
  • Set up the navigation
  • Edit the footer
  • Customize fonts and colors
  • Reset style changes
• Create the main pages
  • Use a Page Starter pattern
  • Choose the right page template
  • Create an About page
  • Create a Services page
  • Create a Portfolio page
  • Create a Blog page
  • Create a Contact page
• Use Maison patterns
• Use Maison block styles
• Write blog posts
• Add a contact form
• Troubleshooting and recovery
  • My homepage shows a post list instead of the Maison design
  • My page does not show the large hero image
  • My header changes do not appear everywhere
  • I cannot find a Maison pattern
  • The contact page says the Fluent Forms block is unavailable
  • I want to undo template or template-part changes

Before you start

Maison is a standalone WordPress block theme for wedding photographers and creative studios. It uses WordPress’s Site Editor, templates, template parts, patterns, and global Styles. You do not need a parent theme.

Theme requirements

To use Maison, you need:

• A self-hosted WordPress website, including a hosting account, domain name, and WordPress installation.
• WordPress 7.1 or newer.
• PHP 7.4 or newer.
• An administrator account that can install themes and plugins.

The optional Contact Page Starter uses the free Fluent Forms plugin. The rest of Maison works without it.

Theme files

Upload the installable Maison .zip file supplied with your purchase. Do not unzip the file before uploading it to WordPress.

Maison does not require a parent-theme ZIP or a demo-data import ZIP. The theme’s homepage design, page starters, and individual sections are included as templates and patterns.

Theme installation

1. Sign in to your WordPress Dashboard.
2. Go to Appearance → Themes.
3. Select Add Theme, then Upload Theme.
4. Select the Maison .zip file from your computer.
5. Select Install Now.
6. When installation finishes, select Activate.

Maison is now active. Hooray!

Import the demo data

I recommend you to use a fresh WordPress installation for importing demos. While import process will not remove or overwrite any of the existing content on your site, it might make it harder to find and remove it when you’re getting your site ready for launch.

To import example blog posts, pages, categories, and images used in the demo, follow these steps:

1. Install and activate the Advanced Import plugin from the plugin directory.
2. Go to Appearance → Demo Import.
3. Upload the pnp-data.zip and click Upload Demo Zip.
4. Wait for the import process to finish.
5. Visit your homepage. It should now show the demo blog posts.

Theme setup

Set your homepage

Maison’s complete homepage is supplied by the Blog Home template.

1. Go to Settings → Reading.
2. Under Your homepage displays, select Your latest posts.
3. Save your changes.

This does not make the homepage look like a conventional list of posts. Maison’s Blog Home template supplies the full editorial homepage design.

Important: If you switch to A static page, WordPress uses that page’s assigned template instead of Maison’s Blog Home template. Only use a static homepage if you intentionally want to build a different homepage.

Open the Site Editor

Go to Appearance → Editor. In WordPress 7.1, the Site Editor has a persistent WordPress admin bar and a left-hand navigation for Design, Styles, Pages, Templates, and Patterns.

The most useful areas are:

• Styles — change site-wide typography, colors, layout, and block appearance.
• Pages — create and edit page content.
• Templates — edit layouts used by groups of pages, posts, archives, and search results.
• Patterns — find Maison patterns and edit template parts such as the headers and footer.

Edit the homepage

1. Go to Appearance → Editor → Templates.
2. Open Blog Home.
3. Select the preview or pencil icon to edit the template.
4. Turn on List View from the top toolbar. Maison names the main homepage sections so they are easier to find.
5. Select the section or block you want to update, then replace its text, links, or images.
6. Select Save.

The supplied homepage contains these sections:

1. Header Hero
2. Experience
3. About Us
4. Our Approach
5. Featured Celebrations
6. Testimonials
7. Next Steps
8. Frequently Asked Questions
9. Contact
10. Instagram Gallery
11. Footer

The homepage sections are regular blocks. You can reorder or remove them from List View, and you can add them again later from Maison’s patterns.

Tip: Saving a template can show more than one item, such as the Blog Home template and a header or footer template part. Review the items in the Save dialog and keep each item you intentionally changed selected.

Update your site identity

Maison uses the WordPress Site Logo, Site Title, and Site Tagline blocks in several places. Updating these shared blocks updates the same site information wherever it is displayed.

1. Go to Appearance → Editor → Patterns → Manage all my patterns → Template parts.
2. Open a header or the footer.
3. Select the Site Logo, Site Title, or Site Tagline block.
4. Make your change and select Save.

You can also change the site title and tagline under Settings → General.

Edit the headers

Maison includes three header experiences:

• Header — the full-height homepage hero with a theme image, site identity, navigation, and introductory copy.
• Minimal — the compact header used by standard pages, posts, archives, and search results.
• Header Hero — the large featured-image header used by pages assigned the page-with-hero-header template.

To edit a header:

1. Go to Appearance → Editor → Patterns.
2. Open Manage all my patterns, then Template parts.
3. Open Header, Minimal, or Header Hero.
4. Make your changes and select Save.

You can also edit a header in context from Appearance → Editor → Templates. Select the header inside a template, then choose Edit from the block toolbar to enter the isolated template-part view.

Change the homepage hero image

1. Open the Header template part.
2. Use List View to select the outer Cover block.
3. In the block toolbar, select Replace and choose or upload your image.
4. Adjust the overlay and focal point in the block settings if needed.
5. Save the template part.

Change a page hero image

The Header Hero template part uses the current page’s featured image.

1. Edit the page under Pages or Appearance → Editor → Pages.
2. Open the Page settings sidebar.
3. Set or replace Featured image.
4. Save or publish the page.

Because the featured image is page-specific, changing it affects only that page. Editing the Header Hero template part itself affects every page using that header.

Set up the navigation

When no custom menu exists, WordPress may show a Page List that automatically includes published top-level pages.

To choose your own links:

1. Edit the Header, Minimal, or Header Hero template part.
2. Select the Navigation block. List View is usually the easiest way to select it.
3. Open the block Settings sidebar and use the Navigation block’s menu list.
4. If you see Page List, select it and choose Edit to convert the automatic list into editable Page Link blocks; or open the menu options and select Create a new menu.
5. Use the + button to add pages, custom links, categories, or submenu items.
6. Drag items in List View to reorder them or nest them inside a submenu.
7. Save your changes.

The three header template parts contain separate Navigation blocks. Select the same existing menu in each header if you want identical links everywhere.

Edit the footer

1. Go to Appearance → Editor → Patterns → Manage all my patterns → Template parts.
2. Open Footer.
3. Replace the sample location, phone number, email address, social links, Site Title, and Site Tagline.
4. Select Save.

Editing the Footer template part updates every theme template that uses it.

Customize fonts and colors

Maison includes a curated color palette and three local font families:

• Public Sans for body copy and interface-style text.
• Noto Serif Display for headings and editorial typography.
• Reenie Beanie for handwritten accents.

To change the global design:

1. Go to Appearance → Editor → Styles.
2. Select Typography to change fonts and typography for text, links, headings, buttons, or individual block types.
3. Select Colors to change the palette and global colors for backgrounds, text, links, headings, and buttons.
4. Select Layout to review content width and site padding.
5. Select Blocks to customize a particular block type site-wide.
6. Save your changes.

Maison does not currently include alternate whole-site style variations in Browse styles. Its additional visual choices are block styles, described below, rather than complete font-and-color presets.

Reset style changes

To return to Maison’s default global styles:

1. Go to Appearance → Editor → Styles.
2. Open the three-dot menu in the Styles panel.
3. Select Reset to defaults.
4. Confirm and save.

This resets global style customizations. It does not remove your pages, posts, images, menus, or edits to template content.

Tip: The following sections go into details of manually setting up pages. If you proceed with the data import, you can skip it, as your website is already set up like the demo. All you have to do is go in and edit images and text.

Create the main pages

Use a Page Starter pattern

Maison provides complete Page Starter patterns for About, Services, Blog, and Contact.

1. Go to Pages → Add Page.
2. Add a title.
3. Open the block inserter with the + button.
4. Select the Patterns tab.
5. Open Featured or search for Page Starter.
6. Select the Maison Page Starter you want to insert.
7. Replace all sample text, images, prices, email addresses, and button links.
8. Choose the appropriate page template, then publish the page.

In current WordPress versions, a pattern-selection modal may also appear automatically when you create a page. If it does, you can select a Maison Page Starter there. If it does not appear, use the block inserter steps above.

Maison’s Page Starter patterns are not synced patterns. After insertion, the blocks belong to that page and can be edited without changing other pages.

Choose the right page template

While editing a page:

1. Open the Page settings sidebar using the Settings icon in the top-right toolbar.
2. Select the current template name.
3. Choose Change template.
4. Select the template you want and save the page.

Maison includes:

• Pages — compact Minimal header, visible centered page title, page content, and footer.
• Page without Title — compact Minimal header, no automatic page title, page content, and footer. Use this when the inserted Page Starter supplies its own opening design.
• page-with-hero-header — large featured-image header containing the page title, page content, and footer. Set a featured image before using it.

Create an About page

1. Create a page named About.
2. Insert Page Starter: About.
3. Apply Page without Title.
4. Replace every sample image and all sample biography, experience, mission, testimonial, contact, and social content.
5. Check every button link and publish the page.

The About starter combines reusable Maison sections, including Overlapping Images and Text, Experience, Our Story, Our Mission, What to Expect, and Instagram Gallery.

Create a Services page

1. Create a page named Services.
2. Insert Page Starter: Services.
3. To match the demo’s large page hero, apply page-with-hero-header and set a featured image.
4. Replace all sample package names, descriptions, inclusions, prices, images, and button links.
5. Publish the page.

Create a Portfolio page

Maison uses a regular WordPress page and the core Gallery block. It does not require a portfolio plugin or custom post type.

1. Create a page named Portfolio.
2. To use the large hero, apply page-with-hero-header and set a featured image.
3. Add an introductory Heading or Paragraph block.
4. Insert a Gallery block.
5. Upload images or choose them from the Media Library.
6. In the Gallery settings, adjust the column count, cropping, image resolution, and link behavior.
7. Add alt text to every meaningful image in the Media Library or Image block settings.
8. Publish the page.

The core Gallery block is the supported default. If you choose a third-party gallery plugin for masonry, lightboxes, filtering, or client galleries, follow that plugin’s documentation; those features are not supplied by Maison.

Create a Blog page

The Maison homepage already uses your latest posts, so the Blog page is a separate editorial index for visitors.

1. Create a page named Blog.
2. Insert Page Starter: Blog.
3. Apply page-with-hero-header and set a featured image if you want the demo’s large hero.
4. Publish the page.
5. Add the Blog page to your navigation.

Do not assign this page as the Posts page under Settings → Reading. Doing so causes WordPress to replace its page content with the Blog Home template. Leave the reading setting on Your latest posts and use the inserted Query blocks on the Blog page.

The Blog Page Starter includes:

• Three featured stories, populated by the three newest published posts.
• A category list and Search block.
• A three-column post grid showing six posts per page.
• Pagination.

To make the Blog page look complete, publish at least three posts and give each post a featured image and category.

Create a Contact page

1. Install and activate the free Fluent Forms plugin.
2. Create a page named Contact.
3. Insert Page Starter: Contact.
4. Apply Page without Title.
5. Create a form and select it in the Fluent Forms block as described below.
6. Replace the sample image, copy, response time, and email address.
7. Publish the page.

Use Maison patterns

Maison includes complete page starters and smaller reusable sections.

To browse them:

1. Go to Appearance → Editor → Patterns to see theme patterns in the Site Editor; or open a page/post and select + → Patterns.
2. Browse Featured, Text, Gallery, Posts, Banner, or Call to Action.
3. Search for Maison, Homepage, About, Services, Blog, or Contact to narrow the list.
4. Select a pattern to insert it.

Useful pattern groups include:

• Homepage: About Us, Our Approach, Contact, Experience, FAQ, Featured Celebrations, Instagram Gallery, Next Steps, Process, and Testimonials.
• About: Image Left, Image Right, Our Story, Our Mission, and What to Expect.
• Services: Package Media and Text, Additional Services, and Services Gallery.
• Blog: Featured Stories and Browse and Posts Grid.
• General: Intro Section, Overlapping Images and Text, Testimonials, and Single Post Footer Call to Action.

Patterns insert sample copy and images as editable blocks. Review the complete section after insertion, including links, image alt text, email addresses, social URLs, prices, and calls to action.

Use Maison block styles

Maison includes extra styles for selected blocks. Select the block, open the Settings sidebar, and choose a style from the Styles section.

• Group, Columns, and Cover: Section 1, Section 2, and Section 3 color treatments. Cover also has matching cover-section treatments.
• Image and Featured Image: With border.
• List: Checkmark.
• Categories: Horizontal list.
• Separator: Double line.

These are block-level choices. They affect the selected block only and are different from whole-site style variations under Appearance → Editor → Styles.

Write blog posts

Maison’s Blog page, homepage Featured Celebrations section, archives, and search results use your posts automatically.

For each post:

1. Go to Posts → Add Post.
2. Add the post title and content.
3. Set a featured image. Maison uses it in post cards and as the large Single Post cover image.
4. Assign at least one category so category labels and the Blog filter are useful.
5. Add an excerpt if you want a controlled summary wherever an excerpt is displayed.
6. Preview and publish the post.

The Single Post template also includes author/date information, previous and next post links, comments, and a closing call-to-action pattern.

To change the closing call to action on every post, go to Appearance → Editor → Templates → Single Posts, edit the final call-to-action section, and save the template.

Add a contact form

Maison’s Contact Page Starter contains a Fluent Forms block but no form is selected by default.

1. Go to Plugins → Add New Plugin.
2. Search for Fluent Forms, then install and activate the free plugin.
3. Go to Fluent Forms → New Form.
4. Choose Simple Contact Form or build a form from scratch.
5. Add, remove, and reorder fields as needed.
6. Configure the confirmation message, notification email, and sender details.
7. Save the form.
8. Edit your Contact page.
9. Select the Fluent Forms block in the Contact section and choose your saved form.
10. Update the page and submit a test enquiry.

Always test the form while signed out as well as signed in. Confirm that the success message appears and that the notification reaches the intended inbox. Theme installation alone does not configure email delivery; your host or an SMTP plugin may be needed for reliable outgoing mail.

Troubleshooting and recovery

My homepage shows a post list instead of the Maison design

• Confirm Maison is active under Appearance → Themes.
• Go to Settings → Reading and select Your latest posts.
• Go to Appearance → Editor → Templates → Blog Home and confirm the Maison sections are present.

My page does not show the large hero image

• Open the page settings and apply page-with-hero-header.
• Set a featured image on that page.
• Update the page and clear any page cache.

My header changes do not appear everywhere

Maison has separate Header, Minimal, and Header Hero template parts. Edit each header that your templates use. Site identity is shared, but Navigation blocks may need to be assigned the same menu individually.

I cannot find a Maison pattern

• Open the block inserter’s Patterns tab and search for part of the pattern title.
• Check the Featured, Text, Gallery, Posts, Banner, and Call to Action categories.
• Confirm Maison is the active theme.

The contact page says the Fluent Forms block is unavailable

Install and activate Fluent Forms. Then edit the page, select or restore the Fluent Forms block, and choose your form.

I want to undo template or template-part changes

1. Go to Appearance → Editor → Templates or Appearance → Editor → Patterns → Manage all my patterns → Template parts.
2. Open the relevant item’s three-dot Actions menu.
3. Choose Clear customizations or Reset when available.

This returns that template or template part to the version supplied by Maison. It is separate from Styles → Reset to defaults, which resets global style settings only.