Ok so by default wordpress seems to have a lot of issues sending contact forms, and all notifications when its installed on an EC2 instance. The guide below is a quick reference on how to setup wordpress to use Amazon’s SES (simple email solution).
1.) download the SES plugin: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-ses/
2.) upload the files to your EC2 instance (or instances)
3.) login to wp admin and activate plugin config settings are “settings > wp ses”
4.) sender email must be validates in amazon SES prior to activating plugin
EC2 console > SES email sending service > verified senders > email addresses > verify a new email address
5.) create new IAM user and download access_key & secret key
EC2 console > IAM > users > create new > downlaod acces/secret keys > attach user policy > “amazon SES FUll Access”
*new “amazon ses full access” in order for plugin to work
open wp-config.php file and define any of the following that you want too:
// From mail (optionnal) must be an amazon SES validated email // hard coded email, leave empty or comment out to allow custom setting via panel define(‘WP_SES_FROM’,’me@….’);
// Return path for bounced emails (optionnal) // hard coded email, leave empty or comment out to allow custom setting via panel define(‘WP_SES_RETURNPATH’,’return@….’);
// ReplyTo (optionnal) – This will get the replies from the recipients. // hard coded email, or ‘headers’ for using the ‘replyto’ from the headers. // Leave empty or comment out to allow custom setting via panel define(‘WP_SES_REPLYTO’,’headers’);
// Hide list of verified emails (optionnal) define(‘WP_SES_HIDE_VERIFIED’,true);
// Hide SES Stats panel (optionnal) define(‘WP_SES_HIDE_STATS’,true);