Cake Pulls

Wedding cake pulls are a wedding tradition begun in the Victorian Era. These small ‘good luck’ charms became a part of the wedding reception celebration and are seeing a revival today.

In the Victorian Era, brides would collect bracelet charms, considering certain ones to herald ‘good luck’. Sometime during the wedding celebration, each bridal attendant would receive one or more of the pulls..

Each charm had a specific meaning ~ similar to the flowers included in Victorian nosegays.

Ideas for using, mounting, and giving the charms can be found here.

The charms would be strung on fancy ribbons, with a pretty bow on the end opposite the charm becoming pulls.

For How-To information on placing them in your wedding cake, , go to Cake Pull Instructions.

There are many people you could include in this part of your celebration ~ parents, other family members of both the bride and groom, best friends who may not have been in the wedding party, children attending the wedding…even as favors for your wedding guests to pull as they receive their piece of cake.

Another idea would be for the groom to give the bride different charms during their engagement. This would be the giving of Fairings and Tokens, with information found at Scottish Wedding Dreams ~ Prenuptial Ceremonies and Traditions ~ Fairings and Tokens. Though not technically pulls, it would still a ‘charming’ idea.

Charms for pulls run the gamut from 99 cents to over $700. They can be found in cast metal, pewter, sterling silver, gold-plate, and 14 karat gold. Some have diamonds and other precious stones.

Two really gorgeous charms that could be pulls ~


Image courtesy Precious Accents



Image courtesy Precious Accents

Cast in 14 karat gold, their current prices are over $700 each. For a really special gift from the groom they would be wonderful. With charms this expensive, possibly the groom could add them periodically as special gifts to his bride ~ wedding day, anniversaries, birthdays, or Christmas. They could then be called ‘Life Charms’.


Image courtesy Sterling Trends


  • A list of Charms will help you find your selections.

  • To find a listing of Charms for sale, these sources are available.

  • Heraldic Symbols that can be used as Victorian Cake Pulls.


Coming soon, clan crest badge rubber stamps


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