I wanted to try and stack a wedding cake with coast plates and tier colums. Is this method easier than cutting wooden dowels and? also can any one tell me if I should use coast plates a size smaller than the cake it will be placed on. for example would a 7" plate be used for a 8" cake. Please help. My first wedding cake was a disaster because it was a tall leaning tower

I noticed no one has answered your question, not exactly sure what type of plates you are talking about but I do know you don't want to use a smaller plate under your cake. For an 8" cake you would use a 9 or 10 " cake plate. HTH