Looking to keep your bridesmaids in line? Download this bridesmaid contract from You & Your Wedding magazine.

When we read about this trend in a recent Newsweek article, we were a bit floored. Prenups aren’t a new thing when it comes to marriages, but how about contracts for the bridesmaids? For some brides, the nightmare that their wedding might not attain complete perfection due to a bridesmaid’s newly gained five pounds and her resulting tighter dress is enough to warrant a contract.

While we haven’t crossed paths with any Washington brides who’ve drafted one of these contracts or with any bridesmaids who have signed one, the UK’s You & Your Wedding magazine surveyed more than 1,000 women and found that one in five would like her bridesmaids to sign on the dotted line. On its Web site, the magazine offers a contract for brides to download and print.

The idea behind the contract is to give bridesmaids stipulations they have to stick to—or risk being fired from the bridal party. Gaining weight, changing hair color, and bringing an “inappropriate” date to the wedding are among the no-no’s that could warrant a bridesmaid’s pink slip.

Dye a tub of white frosting to turn this cookie into a bridesmaid dress.

To make Wedding Dress Cookies, you’ll need the following ingredients:
• 1 bag white chocolate chips
• 1 package Twizzlers Pull-n-Peel licorice
• Supplies for your favorite sugar cookie or snickerdoodle recipe (I like these)

I’m not going to lie—I was a little behind on baking duty last night when I got home at 11 and realized I had never decided what I was making to celebrate a co-worker’s last day in the office before her wedding. I surveyed my candy cupboard—white chocolate chips, Twizzlers, and strawberry fruit leather. I looked at the clock. I set the oven to 375.

To make these strapless (always in fashion) snacks, throw together some cookie batter (anything you can flatten with a rolling pin, like sugar cookies or snickerdoodles), roll it out a quarter-inch thick on a floured surface, and use a butter knife to cut out cookies in the shape pictured. Because the dough will expand while baking, make sure to cut the waist extra narrow—otherwise, your finished product will look like The Blob. Warning: These cookies are thin, so they will take significantly less time to bake than the traditional fat, round snickerdoodle. My recipe called for 12 minutes in the oven, but the edges of each cookie were nicely browned in five.

Create a ring from a marshmallow and a butter cookie.

To make Engagement Ring Cupcakes, you’ll need the following ingredients:
• 1 box Salerno butter cookies or a similarly shaped store brand
• 1 bag regular-size marshmallows
• 1 12-ounce bag chocolate chips
• Supplies for your favorite cupcake or cookie recipe

I used to love Salerno butter cookies (you know the ones—flower-shaped with a hole in the middle) because I could slip them over my fingers and pretend I was wearing a row of sparkly diamond rings. That probably wouldn’t be as cute these days, but the idea of a butter-cookie ring definitely can be.

It's hard to explain how much I love baking. Let's just say getting a KitchenAid stand mixer (buttercup yellow, if you were wondering) may or may not be the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me. Next to almost replicating Potbelly’s dreambar recipe, of course. So when my mom, who grew up in England, told me about an old British dessert called a maid of honor, I went straight to the kitchen. I wasn’t headed to a bridal shower, but hey—maybe you guys are?