Cake Pulls

Although my wedding in New Orleans has passed I will probably post about weddings every once in while if the inspiration takes me. My brother is getting married in South Carolina this Fall and I'm already dreaming of low country cuisine, balmy weather and Charleston charm. We are so excited for them! Jack and I will probably stay in Charleston a couple of days after the wedding for a mini-vacation (shop, eat, and rest will be the agenda). It's strange to be the arbiter of wedding advice now (when most of the time I felt clueless!) but I think my brother and his fiancé will fare better than I did.

Thinking of my brother's Southern wedding got my thinking of the Southern cake pulls wedding tradition. It's hard to say when the inception of this tradition took place but most people agree that it's been around for quite some time. Cake pulls are charms that are tied onto ribbons and placed under the wedding cake. Members of the bridal party then randomly choose one of the ribbons (usually artfully fanned out from the cake) and pull their charm. Each charm represents a fortune; prosperity, love, money or if you are lucky a fortune that fates you to a life of spinsterhood (the thimble). Most Southern brides usually only include charms of good fortune for their bridal party and omit the dreaded thimble. It's great fun to see who gets what and it usually ends with a little teasing and merriment!

Cake charms are relatively easy to find; especially in New Orleans. The New Orleans Bead Shop carries a wide variety at an affordable price. If you want something a little more lux then New Orleans jewelry designer Mignon Faget will exceed your expectations. Her work is unfussy, clean and very much influenced by nature and architectural forms. Her cake pulls are made out of sterling silver that include charms that represent Marriage, Eternal Beauty, Luck, Red Hot Romance, Prosperity, Opportunity, Stability and True Love. Not a bad omen in site. Once cleaned, they make great jewelry charm gifts for your bridesmaids.