diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 123e0d63..9c0916e6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ var log = new LoggerConfiguration()
 If you are configuring Serilog with the `ReadFrom.AppSettings()` XML configuration support, you can use:
 
 ```xml
-<add key="serilog:using:MSSqlSever" value="Serilog.Sinks.MSSqlServer" />
+<add key="serilog:using:MSSqlServer" value="Serilog.Sinks.MSSqlServer" />
 <add key="serilog:write-to:MSSqlServer.connectionString" value="Server=..."/>
 <add key="serilog:write-to:MSSqlServer.tableName" value="Logs"/>
 <add key="serilog:write-to:MSSqlServer.autoCreateSqlTable" value="true"/>
diff --git a/src/Serilog.Sinks.MSSqlServer/Serilog.Sinks.MSSqlServer.csproj b/src/Serilog.Sinks.MSSqlServer/Serilog.Sinks.MSSqlServer.csproj
index b49a1af8..8553e7af 100644
--- a/src/Serilog.Sinks.MSSqlServer/Serilog.Sinks.MSSqlServer.csproj
+++ b/src/Serilog.Sinks.MSSqlServer/Serilog.Sinks.MSSqlServer.csproj
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
   <PropertyGroup>
     <Description>A Serilog sink that writes events to Microsoft SQL Server</Description>
-    <VersionPrefix>5.1.0</VersionPrefix>
+    <VersionPrefix>5.1.1</VersionPrefix>
     <Authors>Michiel van Oudheusden;Serilog Contributors</Authors>
     <TargetFrameworks>netstandard2.0;net45;net452</TargetFrameworks>
     <TreatWarningsAsErrors>true</TreatWarningsAsErrors>
diff --git a/src/Serilog.Sinks.MSSqlServer/Sinks/MSSqlServer/XmlPropertyFormatter.cs b/src/Serilog.Sinks.MSSqlServer/Sinks/MSSqlServer/XmlPropertyFormatter.cs
index 805f7d34..c13ce0a8 100644
--- a/src/Serilog.Sinks.MSSqlServer/Sinks/MSSqlServer/XmlPropertyFormatter.cs
+++ b/src/Serilog.Sinks.MSSqlServer/Sinks/MSSqlServer/XmlPropertyFormatter.cs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2015 Serilog Contributors
+// Copyright 2015 Serilog Contributors
 // 
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 // you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -28,6 +28,14 @@ namespace Serilog.Sinks.MSSqlServer
     /// </summary>
     public static class XmlPropertyFormatter
     {
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Regex to trasnform any non-xml char into ?, acoiding any exceptions on inserting the xml properties into the database
+        /// </summary>
+        private static Regex _invalidXMLChars = new Regex(
+        @"(?<![\uD800-\uDBFF])[\uDC00-\uDFFF]|[\uD800-\uDBFF](?![\uDC00-\uDFFF])|[\x00-\x08\x0B\x0C\x0E-\x1F\x7F-\x9F\uFEFF\uFFFE\uFFFF]",
+        RegexOptions.Compiled);
+
         /// <summary>
         ///     Simplify the object so as to make handling the serialized
         ///     representation easier.
@@ -204,7 +212,7 @@ static string SimplifyScalar(object value)
         {
             if (value == null) return null;
 
-            return new XText(value.ToString()).ToString();
+            return new XText(_invalidXMLChars.Replace(value.ToString(), m => "\\u" + ((ushort)m.Value[0]).ToString("x4"))).ToString();
         }
     }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}