diff --git a/Yesod/Core/Class/Yesod.hs b/Yesod/Core/Class/Yesod.hs
--- a/Yesod/Core/Class/Yesod.hs
+++ b/Yesod/Core/Class/Yesod.hs
@@ -222,8 +222,9 @@
                         -> LogLevel
                         -> LogStr -- ^ message
                         -> IO ()
-    messageLoggerSource a logger loc source level msg =
-        when (shouldLog a source level) $
+    messageLoggerSource a logger loc source level msg = do
+        sl <- shouldLogIO a source level
+        when sl $
             formatLogMessage (loggerDate logger) loc source level msg >>= loggerPutStr logger
 
     -- | Where to Load sripts from. We recommend the default value,
@@ -259,6 +260,19 @@
     -- Default: Logs everything at or above 'logLevel'
     shouldLog :: site -> LogSource -> LogLevel -> Bool
     shouldLog _ _ level = level >= LevelInfo
+
+    -- | Should we log the given log source/level combination.
+    --
+    -- Note that this is almost identical to @shouldLog@, except the result
+    -- lives in @IO@. This allows you to dynamically alter the logging level of
+    -- your application by having this result depend on, e.g., an @IORef@.
+    --
+    -- The default implementation simply uses @shouldLog@. Future versions of
+    -- Yesod will remove @shouldLog@ and use this method exclusively.
+    --
+    -- Since 1.2.4
+    shouldLogIO :: site -> LogSource -> LogLevel -> IO Bool
+    shouldLogIO a b c = return (shouldLog a b c)
 
     -- | A Yesod middleware, which will wrap every handler function. This
     -- allows you to run code before and after a normal handler.
diff --git a/Yesod/Core/Internal/Response.hs b/Yesod/Core/Internal/Response.hs
--- a/Yesod/Core/Internal/Response.hs
+++ b/Yesod/Core/Internal/Response.hs
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
               -> YesodRequest
               -> m Response
 yarToResponse (YRWai a) _ _ = return a
-yarToResponse (YRPlain s hs ct c newSess) saveSession yreq = do
+yarToResponse (YRPlain s' hs ct c newSess) saveSession yreq = do
     extraHeaders <- do
         let nsToken = maybe
                 newSess
@@ -50,6 +50,23 @@
         go (ContentSource body) = ResponseSource s finalHeaders body
         go (ContentDontEvaluate c') = go c'
     return $ go c
+  where
+    s
+        | s' == defaultStatus = H.status200
+        | otherwise = s'
+
+-- | Indicates that the user provided no specific status code to be used, and
+-- therefore the default status code should be used. For normal responses, this
+-- would be a 200 response, whereas for error responses this would be an
+-- appropriate status code.
+--
+-- For more information on motivation for this, see:
+--
+-- https://groups.google.com/d/msg/yesodweb/vHDBzyu28TM/bezCvviWp4sJ
+--
+-- Since 1.2.3.1
+defaultStatus :: H.Status
+defaultStatus = H.mkStatus (-1) "INVALID DEFAULT STATUS"
 
 -- | Convert Header to a key/value pair.
 headerToPair :: Header
diff --git a/Yesod/Core/Internal/Run.hs b/Yesod/Core/Internal/Run.hs
--- a/Yesod/Core/Internal/Run.hs
+++ b/Yesod/Core/Internal/Run.hs
@@ -73,15 +73,18 @@
     state <- liftIO $ I.readIORef istate
     let finalSession = ghsSession state
     let headers = ghsHeaders state
-    let contents = either id (HCContent H.status200 . toTypedContent) contents'
+    let contents = either id (HCContent defaultStatus . toTypedContent) contents'
     let handleError e = flip runInternalState resState $ do
             yar <- rheOnError e yreq
                 { reqSession = finalSession
                 }
             case yar of
-                YRPlain _ hs ct c sess ->
+                YRPlain status' hs ct c sess ->
                     let hs' = appEndo headers hs
-                     in return $ YRPlain (getStatus e) hs' ct c sess
+                        status
+                            | status' == defaultStatus = getStatus e
+                            | otherwise = status'
+                     in return $ YRPlain status hs' ct c sess
                 YRWai _ -> return yar
     let sendFile' ct fp p =
             return $ YRPlain H.status200 (appEndo headers []) ct (ContentFile fp p) finalSession
diff --git a/test/YesodCoreTest/ErrorHandling.hs b/test/YesodCoreTest/ErrorHandling.hs
--- a/test/YesodCoreTest/ErrorHandling.hs
+++ b/test/YesodCoreTest/ErrorHandling.hs
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as L
 import qualified Data.ByteString.Char8 as S8
 import Control.Exception (SomeException, try)
+import Network.HTTP.Types (mkStatus)
 
 data App = App
 
@@ -22,10 +23,15 @@
 /after_runRequestBody AfterRunRequestBodyR POST
 /error-in-body ErrorInBodyR GET
 /error-in-body-noeval ErrorInBodyNoEvalR GET
+/override-status OverrideStatusR GET
 |]
 
-instance Yesod App
+overrideStatus = mkStatus 15 "OVERRIDE"
 
+instance Yesod App where
+    errorHandler (InvalidArgs ["OVERRIDE"]) = sendResponseStatus overrideStatus ("OH HAI" :: String)
+    errorHandler x = defaultErrorHandler x
+
 getHomeR :: Handler Html
 getHomeR = do
     $logDebug "Testing logging"
@@ -65,6 +71,9 @@
 getErrorInBodyNoEvalR :: Handler (DontFullyEvaluate Html)
 getErrorInBodyNoEvalR = fmap DontFullyEvaluate getErrorInBodyR
 
+getOverrideStatusR :: Handler ()
+getOverrideStatusR = invalidArgs ["OVERRIDE"]
+
 errorHandlingTest :: Spec
 errorHandlingTest = describe "Test.ErrorHandling" $ do
       it "says not found" caseNotFound
@@ -72,6 +81,7 @@
       it "says 'There was an error' after runRequestBody" caseAfter
       it "error in body == 500" caseErrorInBody
       it "error in body, no eval == 200" caseErrorInBodyNoEval
+      it "can override status code" caseOverrideStatus
 
 runner :: Session () -> IO ()
 runner f = toWaiApp App >>= runSession f
@@ -125,3 +135,8 @@
     case eres of
         Left (_ :: SomeException) -> return ()
         Right _ -> error "Expected an exception"
+
+caseOverrideStatus :: IO ()
+caseOverrideStatus = runner $ do
+    res <- request defaultRequest { pathInfo = ["override-status"] }
+    assertStatus 15 res
diff --git a/yesod-core.cabal b/yesod-core.cabal
--- a/yesod-core.cabal
+++ b/yesod-core.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:            yesod-core
-version:         1.2.3
+version:         1.2.4
 license:         MIT
 license-file:    LICENSE
 author:          Michael Snoyman <michael@snoyman.com>