diff --git a/lib/http-context.js b/lib/http-context.js
index 27ce93ee..9257a9a0 100644
--- a/lib/http-context.js
+++ b/lib/http-context.js
@@ -433,19 +433,26 @@ function toJSON(input) {
   }
 }
 
-function toXML(input) {
+function toXML(input, options) {
   var xml;
+  var xmlDefaultOptions = { declaration : true };
+  var xmlOptions = util._extend(xmlDefaultOptions, options);
   if (input && typeof input.toXML === 'function') {
     xml = input.toXML();
   } else {
-    if (input) {
+    if (typeof input == 'string') {
+      //  this is a hack to handle js2xmlparser throws syntax error on string
+      //  wraps string from "a string" to "\"a string\""
+      input = JSON.stringify(input);
+    } else if (typeof input == 'object') {
       // Trigger toJSON() conversions
       input = toJSON(input);
     }
     if (Array.isArray(input)) {
       input = { result: input };
     }
-    xml = js2xmlparser('response', input, {
+    xml = js2xmlparser(xmlOptions.wrapperElement || 'response', input, {
+      declaration : { include : xmlOptions.declaration },
       prettyPrinting: {
         indentString: '  '
       },
@@ -501,13 +508,14 @@ function sendBodyJsonp(res, data) {
   res.jsonp(data);
 }
 
-function sendBodyXml(res, data) {
+function sendBodyXml(res, data, method) {
   if (data === null) {
     res.header('Content-Length', '7');
     res.send('<null/>');
   } else if (data) {
     try {
-      var xml = toXML(data);
+      var xmlOptions = method.returns[0].xml || {};
+      var xml = toXML(data, xmlOptions);
       res.send(xml);
     } catch (e) {
       res.status(500).send(e + '\n' + data);
@@ -629,7 +637,7 @@ HttpContext.prototype.done = function(cb) {
     res.header('Content-Type', operationResults.contentType);
   }
   if (dataExists) {
-    operationResults.sendBody(res, data);
+    operationResults.sendBody(res, data, method);
   } else {
     if (res.statusCode === undefined || res.statusCode === 200) {
       res.statusCode = 204;
diff --git a/test/rest.test.js b/test/rest.test.js
index d73986d6..31f83a81 100644
--- a/test/rest.test.js
+++ b/test/rest.test.js
@@ -1359,6 +1359,121 @@ describe('strong-remoting-rest', function() {
           });
       });
 
+      it('should allow customized xml root element', function(done) {
+        var method = givenSharedStaticMethod(
+          function bar(cb) {
+            cb(null, {a: 1, b: 2});
+          },
+          {
+            returns: {
+              arg: 'data', type: 'object', root: true,
+              xml: { wrapperElement: 'foo'}
+            },
+            http: { path: '/' }
+          }
+        );
+        request(app).get(method.classUrl)
+          .set('Accept', 'application/xml')
+          .set('Content-Type', 'application/json')
+          .send()
+          .expect('Content-Type', /xml/)
+          .expect(200, function(err, res) {
+            expect(res.text).to.equal(
+              '<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n' +
+              '<foo>\n  ' +
+                '<a>1</a>\n  ' +
+                '<b>2</b>\n' +
+              '</foo>');
+            done(err, res);
+          });
+      });
+
+      it('should allow xml declaration to be disabled', function(done) {
+        var method = givenSharedStaticMethod(
+          function bar(cb) {
+            cb(null, {a: 1, b: 2});
+          },
+          {
+            returns: {
+              arg: 'data', type: 'object', root: true,
+              xml: { declaration : false }
+            },
+            http: { path: '/' }
+          }
+        );
+        request(app).get(method.classUrl)
+          .set('Accept', 'application/xml')
+          .set('Content-Type', 'application/json')
+          .send()
+          .expect('Content-Type', /xml/)
+          .expect(200, function(err, res) {
+            expect(res.text).to.equal(
+              '<response>\n  ' +
+                '<a>1</a>\n  ' +
+                '<b>2</b>\n' +
+              '</response>');
+            done(err, res);
+          });
+      });
+
+      it('should allow string results to output as xml', function(done) {
+        var method = givenSharedStaticMethod(
+          function bar(cb) {
+            var stringResult = 'a quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog';
+            cb(null, stringResult);
+          },
+          {
+            returns: {
+              root: true,
+              xml: { wrapperElement : 'text' }
+            },
+            http: { path: '/' }
+          }
+        );
+        request(app).get(method.classUrl)
+          .set('Accept', 'application/xml')
+          .set('Content-Type', 'application/json')
+          .send()
+          .expect('Content-Type', /xml/)
+          .expect(200, function(err, res) {
+            expect(res.text).to.equal(
+              '<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n' +
+              '<text>a quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog' +
+              '</text>');
+            done(err, res);
+          });
+      });
+
+      it('should handle UTF-8 & special & reserved characters', function(done) {
+        var method = givenSharedStaticMethod(
+          function bar(cb) {
+            var stringA = 'foo\xC1\xE1\u0102\u03A9asd><=$~!@#$%^&*()-_=+/.,;\'"[]{}?';
+            cb(null, {a: stringA});
+          },
+          {
+            returns: {
+              arg: 'data', type: 'object', root: true,
+              xml: { wrapperElement: false }
+            },
+            http: { path: '/' }
+          }
+        );
+        request(app).get(method.classUrl)
+          .set('Accept', 'application/xml')
+          .set('Content-Type', 'application/json')
+          .send()
+          .expect('Content-Type', /xml/)
+          .expect(200, function(err, res) {
+            expect(res).to.be.utf8;
+            expect(res.text).to.equal(
+            '<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n' +
+            '<response>\n  ' +
+              '<a>fooÁáĂΩasd&gt;&lt;=$~!@#$%^&amp;*()-_=+/.,;&apos;&quot;[]{}?</a>\n' +
+            '</response>');
+            done();
+          });
+      });
+
       it('should produce xml from json objects with toXML()', function(done) {
         var method = givenSharedStaticMethod(
           function bar(a, cb) {