I don’t like how even shoe whore or shopping whore has become a common term to the point where they’re on tshirts. There has to be a balance between being proper and having a sense of humor.

Leila’s business is helping other businesses grow. If she says something I am going to ar least hear her out.

My toes were stepped on a bit with the blog posts about slashers. I am a wedding planner/invitation designer. And I don’t plan on giving one up but I do understand the purpose of the post. It did help me recognize that I don’t want to spread myself thin and I am simplifying things for myself to achieve that.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I do swear. I even, on occasion swear in front of my children. I also let them know that I worked very hard on my college education and I probably could have used a better word.

I did not see that Leila was specifically attacking any individual brand or brands. I read it as collectively, the wedding industry, is taking the “be yourself” advice literally and we are trending to “let it all hang out” and that, overall, if we are careless when choosing words, is not a good thing.

With that, I do think for certain brands like the “broke-ass bride” it works. I follow her, I appreciate her brand and what she is doing. Dana uses and chooses her words wisely. It works. But because it works for Dana and her brand “Broke-Ass Bride” it does give everyone else license to use the word “ass” and “yo” with reckless abandon. I am seeing more blogs and more tweets with slang and more cursing. If we continue to accept it widely and are not thoughtful about the words we choose it will dumb down our industry as a whole.

For me, as a florist, the term, “flower porn” makes my heart ache from the inside-out. I see it floral design as art. Porn is not art, it is not love, it is a medium that reduces individuals to mere objects. Porn is one dimensional, simple and careless. Floral design within the wedding industry is thoughtful, it is about individuals, it is love, and it is multi-dimensional medium. When I create bouquets and boutonnieres, I think about love and how beautiful LIFE is. It pains me to the core to see the word porn paired up with something so lovely as flowers.

While I greatly appreciate free speech, I do believe that that we have a responsibility within the industry which we say we belong. Act with integrity. Be yourself, but be respectful of those around you. In college I worked in several restaurants and learned very quickly in every restaurant there is a private (kitchen and prep areas) “back of the house” area and a public (dining) “the front of the house”. In the back of the house employees would let it all hang out, we were able to let our guard down. Raunchy music played, melt-downs occurred, fights broke out, we all cursed and even drank. I heard stories and saw behavior that would make a drunken sailor blush. The back of the house was a veritable free for all. The “front of the house” was open to customers and patrons and we all knew to watch our mouth, our behavior and act with respect and dignity. We all knew to act with integrity in the ‘front of the house’. Our jobs, the restaurant, and even the restaurant industry depended on it.

Collectively, we need to realize social media is the “the front of the house”. We need to recognize that when we say we are a part of the wedding industry we should know to act responsibly with respect and dignity. Be yourself, but save that “bad-a**” self of yours for private situations and within a set context.

Secondly, I don’t write anything I wouldn’t say in person. Including many of the words such as; hell, damn, OMG, STFU. But that’s just me and I’m okay with that. Be true to yourself and others will appreciate it. If I spoke like someone else then I wouldn’t be myself. Take it or leave it.

Of course sometimes it is good to use restraint. Now where the hell is my filter? I lost it somewhere….

Alas, you have slightly missed the point. My logic is not fail- it’s actually perfectly rational, and I’m baffled by your inability to follow an argument through its entirety. For one, I’m not sure if you read the comments from top to bottom, but my disdain stemmed from the responses to this blog, the accusations of bigotry and racism. My response was to highlight why I felt this was, for lack of better expression “over the top”. Secondly- the two questions I posed- Would you use profanity to represent your business & would you dress inappropriately for an interview- are one in the same, in so much that both deal with putting your best foot forward in the wedding industry. Which is, lest I be puzzled, is the focal point of the blog post, correct?

Sure, if you’re in an industry where fishnets, brews and cigs are what’s “cool” as you put it, then more power to you. However, I’m assuming that you’re speaking about a variety of “professionals”- certainly not solely about the wedding industry – which again, is the point of this blog.

If you want to rap about corporate America, then let’s rap. If you want to debate the definition of professionalism, then lets debate. If you want to philosophize over what constitutes success, let’s philosophize and you know what, I’m sure we’d find many things we’d agree on. But let’s do it under a blog post entitled “The Definition of Professionalism” or “What is Success?” not under one titled “Lack of Tack in the Wedding Industry”. S’all I’m saying. Let’s stick to the context please, don’t go off of ridiculous tangents.

Oh and lastly I have “two” degree’s- that was said to in response to the dummy who insinuated that to be African American you can’t be educated- not in reference to the post or some wacky attempt to display superiority. So sit down on that!

“I’m all about expression, innovation, pushing the envelope and creativity… but is it ever appropriate to use profanity when promoting your business? Wait, let me pose a different question. Would you walk into a job interview in fishnet stockings, holding a brew, and smoking a cigarette? Oh you would!?? Ahhh, okay I see your point. FAIL. Oh, and you didn’t get the job by the way.”

I understand that you have to “degree’s”, but your logic here is actually a FAIL.

A person who builds and runs businesses wouldn’t be walking into a job interview PERIOD. When you ask business owners about going to a job interview, you’re already way off track. But let’s just say it’s a meeting and not an interview, and go back to your original point about the fishnets and the brew. If I’d built a following of loyal customers based on how cool it is that I wear fishnets and drink beer all day, then I’d certainly go to a business meeting like that. If I’d built my business using occasional witty profanity, then I might use occasional witty profanity in said meeting. And I’d close the deal. Because while some of you seem to have endless time to spend worrying about who’s acting “professional”, you overlook that fact that professionalism is a set of behaviors with a purpose. The behaviors are intended to create functional working environments and relationships in order to increase productivity and profit. If someone can achieve success in their business (i.e.; bottom line profit) without abiding by an imaginary behavioral code of conduct, then they’ve already averted that FAIL.

And speaking of FAILS and bottom lines…This is a little-read blog written by someone whose career is about generating publicity. She chose to write an inflammatory post that was intended to lure far more popular bloggers to her pages, letting her temporarily piggyback on their audience’s attention. But in the end, these bloggers will go back to what they do best — creating. And she’ll be left here, criticizing.

Kinda sad.