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Throughout our planning process I kept hearing of this thing called a cake pull. From what I understood, it was a Southern wedding tradition, and it happened at the bridal shower. Charms were buried inside of a cake and pulled out by a ribbon, with each charm corresponding to a fortune. I loved this idea, but I wasn’t having a bridal shower where all my favorite ladies would be present.
My solution to this dilemma was to incorporate the tradition into the wedding day! Sounds like a great idea right? Well, it was in theory, but it didn’t quite work out as well as I would have hoped.
Since we had a cake buffet (lots of yummy cake pictures to come!), I simply asked the catering staff to stuff my charms directly into the cake right before the event was to happen. I’m sure they were all standing around in the back talking about the crazy bride (that is the kind of thing I did when I used to cater weddings).
I called each of my bridesmaids forward and told them to pull on a ribbon of their choice.
I held in my hand 8 slips of paper with “fortunes” written on them.
When enough of the cake was wiped off of the charm to be able to see what it was, I handed the corresponding fortune to each girl and had them read it out loud.
Part of me still believes that this could have been really awesome (and as an amateur folklore buff, I’m fascinated by the myriad of cultural wedding traditions to be found), but my execution wasn’t quite what it should have been. I made up the fortunes myself, since all the fortunes I could find online were really cheesy, but like most of my wedding projects, I did it at 3 AM during the week of the wedding, and my fortunes just weren’t funny enough.
BM Nay looked at me and said, “Mrs. Avocado, why in the world are we doing this?”
I don’t know if I intended for the majority of the guests to gather around and watch this unfold, but that’s what happened.
BM Lova was married just three months before me, and I was really hoping she would get the fortune about having lots of babies, but that didn’t happen.
I bought the charms from Swedenberg’s Gold Chest Jewelers on eBay. I wanted something inexpensive because I knew that most of the girls would lose or throw their charms away that night and the whole set of 9 from this seller was only $15.
As with all of my crazy wedding decisions, my bridesmaids were good sports and played along with smiles on their faces. I would be very surprised if I ever saw this practice repeated again. I don’t think anyone would rate it a big success.
Fate was smiling upon me at the end of the Cake Pull, when the second youngest bridesmaid pulled the baby in a high chair charm, with a fortune that stated, “You will be blessed with children. Lots of them.”
To which her mom cried out, “Not anytime soon, I hope!”
Good thing I have funny relatives who are always ready with a good joke to get everyone laughing. My advice to other brides who have ever considered doing this would be to have the funniest person you know write these out for you.
Kelli Nicole, I wish you could have been a bridesmaid in a pretty black dress, but I needed you there to take our pictures!
Previously:
That Wedding: Bridesmaid Party!
That Wedding: Whole Foods (Rehearsal-ish) Luncheon
That Wedding: Harbor Sailing
That Wedding: Putting My Face On
That Wedding: The Gift Exchange
That Wedding: Dressing The Bride
That Wedding: Bridal Details
That Wedding: The First Look
That Wedding: Into The Woods
That Wedding: Woodsy Family Portraits
That Wedding: To Wed! To Wed!
That Wedding: Showered With Love, Coins, and Hugs
That Wedding: Group Shots With a Little Spice
That Wedding: Those Groomsmen
That Wedding: The Whole Party
That Wedding: Me and My Maids (+ Manmaid)
That Wedding: Ring Ceremony Prep
That Wedding: The Ring Ceremony
That Wedding: Let Us Whet Your Appetite
That Wedding: Photobooth
That Wedding: We Dance
That Wedding: Dining Details
That Wedding: Toasting
Just a tip for others….the charms are generally put on the cake plate and then the cake is placed on top of them, that way they are usually cleaner. I am having a luncheon where we do this and then the girls are tying their charms to their bouquets.
I think that’s a really cute idea! Wish I had more than one BM!
adorable idea! that kellie nicole takes amazing photos.
Cute. But, don’t worry, I’m not funny enough to pull this off impressively, either. Still looks like everyone had fun, though!
Actually, Mrs. DE you got it right in having it at your wedding! The original Southern tradition is to have them place in the wedding cake, and much like bouquet toss, single girls take turns pulling one. There are original meanings behind the charms at the end, but over the years people have come up with new ones and now often do it at the bridal shower or the bridesmaids’ luncheon. I think one of the reasons the old mean charms aren’t as popular is because they weren’t always “rosy” forecasts (for example, one of the pulls was for “old maid,” I think).
As a NC/New Orleans girl, I’ll definitely be doing this, but I haven’t decided if I’m going to do it at the wedding or the bridesmaids’ luncheon the day before.
This is very traditional where I come from and I’ve received several charms from it over the years.
Every time I’ve participated in this, it was at the bridesmaids luncheon.
And of course I’ll do it at their luncheon! But it sure looked like fun doing that at the wedding too! One of the times I did it, there was indeed the old maid charm..they had the old school charms!
Great pictures!
The times I’ve seen this done, they’ve used a Bundt cake and put all of the charms in the hole with the ribbons streaming around the sides of the Bundt cake! I guess Bundt cakes are part of the Southern Charm!
Kelli Nicole is amazing! As are your BM’s dresses and hair.
I like this idea, even if it didn’t work as planned. And I just love seeing pictures from your wedding. 
My fabulous bridesmaids did a version of this at my shower, with wishes in vellum bags instead of charms. They just put it in a bundt cake like Smalltownbrides suggested. It was lovely!
I know it’s not the “tradition”, but I think it would be fun to have a personalized “fortune” pre-planned out for each girl. As in, regardless of which charm Mary pulls, I read Mary’s fortune that I had pre-written, unbeknownst to her! That way it could be personalized & funny & they’d never know what hit them!
I love it! I might try to do this for our rehearsal dinner
I think is a cute idea! I’m sorry to hear it didn’t really play out the way you had hoped.
This tradition is done many places! I was in a dear friends wedding in Chile and saw ribbons hang out the back of the cake. The bride had no idea what they were for but I did. At that time I was hoping for the ring but instead I got a little doggie charm and low and behold I was the proud mommy to my puppy a year later almost exactly. I will being doing it for sure at my wedding!
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Mrs. Avocado, Seattle Age and Occupation: 23, Student Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Consultant Engagement Date: July 27, 2008 Wedding Date: October, 2008 Blogging Since: June 30, 2008 Venue: LDS Seattle Temple & Hotel 1000 About Me: Somehow this little farm girl found herself a genuine Pole to fall in love and eventually move away to Poland with. I am an LDS bride attempting to plan a private religious ceremony, ring ceremony, seated reception for 100, and an open house while coordinating for guests flying in from across the United States and as far away as Poland. I try to avoid fads, excess waste, and saturated fat. I strongly endorse photography, DDR, calorie counting, rss feeds, cooking, and utilizing your resources.
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