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Wedding Cake Charms

Skitzo2372Skitzo2372
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in Louisiana-New Orleans
Even though I am in Houston TX, most of my family is from Louisiana and that is where my parents were married. I even have "eaux" at the end of my last name. ^.^ My parents 30th anniversary came up this past Monday, July 18th and I was going through their wedding photos with my mom. I noticed a pic with all her bridesmaids and a few guests standing around the cake holding ribbons, preparing to pull the charms from them. I knew this was an old tradition but didn't realize my mom had done it. I would want to do this as well. What are your thoughts? Would it be neat to continue what my mom did or is this tradition old fashioned? Also where could I find these wedding charms?
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Re: Wedding Cake Charms

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    NOLAbridealmostNOLAbridealmost member
    5 Love Its Name Dropper Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Hello! I saw your post over on Customs and Traditions but I thought I'd answer you here. 

    We did cake charms (also known as doing a "cake pull") at our wedding.  It was a lot of fun. I got my charms from www.weddingcakecharms.com.  They were all very reasonably priced, they came with the "explanation" of what each charm means, and they arrived really quick. 

    Most girls in the New Orleans area still do this at their wedding (at least the local girls) and it's not old-fashioned at all! 

    I had my single bridesmaids, sisters, and closest first cousins do it. (And one bride's man....although he probably felt a little silly). 



       
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    Skitzo2372Skitzo2372
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    edited December 2011
    I was thinking of having my daughter who will be my flower girl also in on the fun. She'll be 8 by then and want to do what everyone else is doing. Do kids normally get involved to?
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    NatMarie2689NatMarie2689
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    edited December 2011
    I did the cake charm pulls at my wedding recently.  I am 21 years old, so it's not just older brides that keep traditions alive!  It is a Southern tradition to do cake pulls and has been around for decades.  It is fun for the girls.  The youngest girls I had to pull charms were 12 and 13.  It is your wedding, so you should be able to choose what you would like to do, but it is a fun tradition and the girls get excited to see what charms they pull.

    Be aware though, there is an old maid charm.  I decided to only get charms that had positive meanings because I knew if I were pulling a charm, I would be pretty bummed to get the old maid!  Good luck
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    Skitzo2372Skitzo2372
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    edited December 2011
    I went to that weddingcakecharms.com and they let you pick and choose what charms you get and they have black and purple, my colors :) I also like that a lot of the charms go with my wedding. I'm getting married at the Texas Renaissance Festival and the theme is kilts and fairies (guys and girls respectively) and there are charms that fit it perfect :) I was wondering if it's ok to have two different charms that mean the same thing? Not quit sure on the rules of this thing and my mom is unavailble at the moment lol (anniversary trip).
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    kerrie86kerrie86 member
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    edited December 2011

    I agree with most of the other posts... ladies around here are still doing Cake Pulls! I got mine from a jewelry store on Metairie Road called MJ's. They have a ton of silver New Orleans themed charms and their prices are good- mine came out to about $10 a piece.

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    NOLAbridealmostNOLAbridealmost member
    5 Love Its Name Dropper Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    You can do whatever you want, OP!   I picked and chose different fun ones.  You can absolutely let your daughter participate and have charms with the same meanings. 
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    max&lucymax&lucy
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    edited December 2011
    You can also look at Haydel's Bakery. They sell New Orleans themed cake charms which look really cute - although I cannot personally vouch for them as I have only seen them online.
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    mluttrell314mluttrell314 member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    if you are going to be in NOLA anytime soon, there is a place called "string of beads" in Metairie, they sell they pewter charms for about $1.85 each!!! Its a great find and you can pick the carms you want. good luck!

    **and as far as it being an old southern tradition---- I didn't even know other places din't have this at their receptions!!
    i love it, it makes your close single friends feel included.
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    NatMarie2689NatMarie2689
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    edited December 2011
    You can def do more than one charm that means the same thing!  I did that and the girls liked having the same meaning as others.  
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    prettyirishgirlprettyirishgirl member
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    edited December 2011
    It is still really common. I am doing them. You can get them from almost anywhere. I am getting mine from Adlers for traditional family reasons haha, but a lot of jewelers around here still make them and generally sell them in sets. Mf. and jose balli also sell custom designs. From my understanding of the tradition it is any maid. no one married pulls a charm. I am going let all the maids in my bridal party pull as well as cousins and possibly close friends that I couldn't involve in the wedding.

    As to their meanings they usually are the shape of the charm  or are marked with a symbol that signifies anything form being an old maid, having wealth, stability, etc. You can make your own, buy them or whatever, and then you just give then to your cake people and they will put them on the strings on the cake :)

    Side note adler's sells them individually but they have 8 i think. jose balli ad Mf. sell them in full sets so you have to by all 8 together. Like some of the other girls said string a bead has charms and you can just go pick out the charms and make it match your theme or whatever as well. It is much less expensive to go about it that way, but my mother wanted me to get silver ones and offered to pay for them so i'm not objecting. Out of the three places we chose adlers just because I liked theirs the most and they were the only ones that let you buy them individually. That way if i wanted 9 or 10 people to pull or only 5 i wasnt buying charms I didnt like or weren't going to use.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
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    edited December 2011
    I did cake pulls at my wedding for my bridesmaids. Several of them were out of towners, and they loved it.  I bought my cake pulls from an Etsy seller - kellylynndesigns.  She's actually in New Orleans.  All of the charms were sterling silver wtih Nola-themed designs.  I bought a box of plain keyrings and attached one to the end of each ribbon so that the girls could use their charms as keychains. 
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