Bob Walker's Official New Orleans Wedding Guide

The Cake Ribbon Pulls

Who Are The Lucky Ladies?

For single young ladies attending a wedding reception, each admiring and envying the Bride while dreaming of her own wedding day, the highlight second only to the tossing of the bouquet is the "ribbon pull."

During this exciting event the Bride chooses a number of single young ladies just before the wedding cake is cut, and each chooses a ribbon to pull from the cake.

Each ribbon is attached to a tiny trinket, which traditionally has a meaning for the lady who gets it. The moment of the actual pulling is exciting, and allows for lots of fun and teasing when they see who got which trinket.

The ribbon pull seems to be unique to New Orleans, and was apparently brought over from France and adopted by the Creoles. Local bakeries have followed the tradition for years in the preparation of wedding cakes.

According to local bakeries, the number of ribbon pulls ranges from 3-17 per cake. For the average wedding, the cake contains about 8 pulls.

Regardless of the number, the cake must include the ribbon attached to the ring (the next Bride) and another attached to the thimble (the old maid).

The trinkets are inserted and hidden in the base of the cake before frosting (circling the cake) and the ribbons attached to them hang loose outside the cake.

What the trinkets at the ends of the ribbons mean:

WEDDING RING.....Next To Marry
HEART.....Love Will Come
FLEUR-DE-LIS.....Love Will Flower
ANCHOR.....Hope
CLOVER.....Good Luck
WISHBONE.....Good Luck
HORSE SHOE.....Good Luck
DIME.....Riches
PENNY.....Poverty
BUTTON.....Old Maid
THIMBLE.....Old Maid


An interesting new twist now takes place, since quite a few Brides are getting married at a later age than in the past. Many of their Bridesmaids and female guests are already married, so small king cake dolls are included on a couple of the ribbons to show who'll be next to have a baby. These are usually marked so they can be matched to the married ladies chosen for the ribbon pull.

Watch the fun when the ladies pull the ribbons at your wedding.

...And you can remind the ladies who pull the button and the thimble that they still have another chance when you toss the bouquet!

Return To FEATURES