StationAry or StationEry

Normally, I would be writing a Theme Tuesday post today but after reading some of my favorite wedding magazines and stationery blogs over the weekend, I decided to provide a little advice and write a Tuesday Tips post instead.

I have a few pet peeves, but when it comes to writing, grammar, and spelling, this is one of them. Knowing when to use the letter “A” when spelling the word stationAry, which refers to remaining still or not moving.   Or, using the letter "E" when spelling stationEry, which refers to writing paper, or writing materials.

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In the wedding world, we often see the word stationary, referring to the word stationery.  They are not interchangeable.  In our industry, we use it more with wedding invitations and programs instead of writing tablets and pens but as professionals, we are hired to be masters of our craft and simple mistakes are frowned upon.  Our customers read what we put out there, contrary to what we may think!   

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A statement was made recently that our customers only look at our pictures.  In part, that's true.  However, they do read and they are very capable of it too!  As an example, someone recently emailed me to place an order for gift baskets.  In the post script of her email she informed me that she had seen a few misspellings on my website.  I thanked her and immediately went through every page, as she had done, and corrected my errors.   I'm grateful for her attentiveness and forgiveness as I thought I had caught them all before my website was published.  Now I wonder if I missed any opportunities because of those errors.  

Just because our brides tend to spend more time hanging out in our photo galleries, doesn't mean they don't read the other pages too.  Besides, that's why we put them up there!  If you're in the stationery business, know the difference between stationary and stationery, as most of them do because I'm still reading magazines, blogs, and emails where some of you don't.  That's my tip for today....