I have my first wedding cake (three tiers, square) coming up in June. They've requested pillars, but I'm really struggling to find some good information or tutorials online.
The cake itself is far from traditional; it's to have a novelty 'wedding night bedroom scene' and gerberas, so I definitely don't want to use grecian pillars. I'm thinking that round acrylic pillars would look best, maybe filled with something to match the gerberas to tie it all together and make the pillars seem less traditional and out of place.

Is there anything that I should know about pillars?

From what I can gather, there are two types: the ones you push in the cake and the ones you use with dowels and those ugly separator plates. I'd like to avoid separator plates as much as possible as there won't be anything covering them and I don't like the way they stick out from under each tier. Is there any way to do this?

Any advice on pillars will be massively appreciated, I'm feeling pretty stuck!

Edit: How much should I charge for renting the pillars? Should I work the cost of them into the cake then offer a refundable deposit if they bring them back?

I thought they did..how do I know if the separator plate will fit my pillars? I'm looking at pillars like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/370504023430?_trksid=p5197.c0.m619#ht_2201wt_1066 (although they aren't push-in pillars)

Thank you very much for your help![/url]

How about the Wilton Crystal-clear plates and pillars? The plates themselves are white, but like CWR41 said, you can use a smaller size. The pillars are pretty acrylic and come in 7 and 9" lengths. They are meant to push through the cake and act as dowel and pillar in one. You could make that tier look like a fancy four poster bed that way. I got mine from GSA. Make sure you get Crystal-clear, not crystal look to get the pretty pillars.

Thanks kimmcannally. Unfortunately i live in the UK, so Wilton products are really quite hard to come by!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like the push-in pillars are the way to go if I don't want the bottom plate to show, doesn't it?

Ah, I didn't think of icing over the bottom plates! Thank you

Sorry for the bump!
I'm just wondering, can I use any separator plates for any pillars, and how much should I charge to rent out the pillars? I know I need to at least cover what they had cost to me, as I can't see them being used very often! How much should I charge as a refundable deposit to give them incentive to bring them back?
Sorry for all the questions, I hope you lovely people can help me again