A Personal Plea For Professionalism!

Good morning all! Welcome to another week on the Knots & Kisses blog ... this week I'm looking forward to working on an order of my Very British Wedding Range of Wedding Stationery and also some tropical themed pocketfold invitations.

Today I wanted to share with you one of the bespoke stationery designs I worked on for a lovely couple recently. However, before I get to that I wanted to put out this post about something which has upset and annoyed me this morning.

I don't normally post about much that has upset and annoyed me in my business ... these pages are to inspire couples for their wedding and also promote and share the stationery work I create.
However on Saturday I was upset and dismayed to find that a fellow wedding stationer had commented on one of my blog posts, which was sharing one of the bespoke items of stationery I had created for one of my couples, with the words "Here is the right place to purchase Bespoke Stationery" and then a link to her own website!
I can't begin to tell you how much this upset me. Since working in this industry I have found the majority of people I encounter to be not only absolutely lovely and incredibly helpful given we are often competitors in the same market, but also completely and utterly professional in every way. Most of us go out of our way not to copy each others work even if we have similar ideas, not to tread on each others toes and to be as helpful and friendly to others as possible. I have often been asked for advice for example from other stationers or those setting up in business .. and have always tried to be as helpful as I can in return.

I therefore find the behaviour of this individual ( and no I'm not naming and shaming as I wouldn't want to stoop to their level! ) just totally unbelievable.
It happens when you post blogs that people try and be cheeky and post a comment followed by an unashamed link to their own website. If its obviously spam and bears no relation to the post I will delete it. Occasionally if I can see that its from another wedding company but they are not in competition with myself in the stationery market I might let it go .. it depends on the phrasing and friendliness of the comment.
But to blatantly suggest on someone else's blog that your wedding stationery designs are a better option and that their customers should visit your website is beyond reproach.

As you can tell I'm pretty angry about this.
There is no need for this sort of unprofessionalism in our industry and I implore others to not go down this route to promote their own businesses.

Thank you
Nikki

(I'll be posting the originally planned post with lots of gorgeous bespoke stationery & styling later this morning for all you lovely couples out there who are looking for wedding inspiration! x )