Bridesmaid pre-nups: Don’t put on weight or get pregnant

YOU’VE said yes to the love of your life, the dress costs more than a small car and you want everything to be perfect for your big day.

The only trouble is those pesky bridesmaids could let you down.

They are the backdrop to your dazzling entrance and, while you don’t want them to outshine you, they have to look like tasteful and reassuringly expensive wallpaper. The answer: a different kind of “pre-nup”.

Brides-to-be want their bridesmaids to sign contracts promising not to put on weight or get pregnant before the big day, a survey has found.

Also banned are no-nos such as Mohican hairstyles, pawing the groom and getting legless.

More than one in five women planning their wedding would ask their maid-of-honour to sign a written bridal pre-nuptial agreement.

Almost half of those questioned (48%) said they would sack a bridesmaid who did not abide by the contract.

The survey, commissioned in Britain by You & Your Wedding magazine asked more than 1,000 women which clauses they would like to see in a contract.

Favourite answers included not putting on weight, not getting pregnant intentionally and not changing a hairstyle before the wedding day.

More than six in 10 (61%) of brides picked a best friend as their choice of bridesmaid, while just less than half (49%) chose their sister.

Those surveyed also revealed some examples of how bridal relations had turned sour.

One woman told how a maid-of-honour left her dress at a petrol station on the way to the wedding after deciding she did not like it, while another revealed a bridesmaid had left 30 invitations unsent in her desk drawer.

But the brides were not always the innocent party.

A total of 15% admitted they were planning to take steps to ensure they were not upstaged by their bridesmaids, while 14% said they chose their attendants because of family politics.

The magazine has devised its own contract outlining how a bridesmaid should act, including not consuming more than 10 units of alcohol or making any advances towards inappropriate male guests (like the groom perhaps?).

Colette Harris, editor of You & Your Wedding magazine, said: “Planning weddings can be a stressful time for brides, and management issues with bridesmaids can ruin both the anticipation and the big day.

“While our contract is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, the survey demonstrates that issues with bridesmaids are of concern to many of our readers.

“Perhaps official contracts are the way forward for brides struggling to keep the peace.”