Bride Sparks Controversy For Drinking A Beer

Future brides, take note — if you're more of a beer-swiggin' gal than a wine-sipping chick, you're opening yourself to a world of criticism. One New Zealand bride entered in a national "bride of the year" contest is stirring up controversy for her drink choice.

After bride Katrina Hayman was featured on the front page of a local newspaper, Taranaki Daily News, drinking a beer, the online comments went awry with nasty comments about the bride. The event organizers for Taranaki Bride of the Year have asked the paper's editor and everyone involved to apologize.

As for the bride herself? She couldn't care less. Hayman, a pig midwife, said she was more comfortable drinking a beer than wine. Plus, she said, no one would have said a word if she had been drinking wine or champagne. "So what if I enjoy a Tui over drinking wine and I haven't hurt anybody doing that. Only a lot of jealous people would be negative, at the end of the day we are meant to be ourselves," she wrote in an online comment, reports New Zealand news web site.

MSNBC reported on an online poll  in New Zealand that suggested that a bride drinking a beer would "absolutely" be becoming, with 64 percent voting yes. Another 24 percent said it'd be OK if it was out of a fancy glass, and another 13 percent said no way — it's "tacky."