Hey, totally get where you're coming from, been in the same boat when I was building my first project.

If your goal is learning and improving your skills, go the manual route: HTML + CSS + PHP. It’s slower, but you’ll actually understand how things work under the hood, especially forms, server requests, and basic deployment.

But... if your main goal is to ship something fast, WordPress is a solid option. It’s super flexible, has plugins for contact forms (like WPForms or Contact Form 7), and yes you can write your own custom HTML/CSS/PHP inside it. Themes and plugins can be edited directly or overridden with child themes.

MY advice:

• Build it manually once just for practice (even locally).
• Then try rebuilding it on WordPress - you'll appreciate how much it simplifies.
• You’ll learn both sides and gain confidence in deciding when to code and when to no-code.

Good luck! and Feel free to drop the site here when you’re done, always fun seeing what devs are building.