I did my first fondant wedding cake last weekend. It turned out pretty good, it leaned a bit, I should have leveled the tiers better. I traveled with the 4 tier cake, unstacked 3 hours, and hitting a dear it still looked good.
Looking at other stacked cakes that I see, the boarders are so small, the cakes look like they are sitting right on top of each other. My cakes always have a bit of a gap. I cut my plastic dowels the same height as the icing, should they just be a little shorter than the height of the icing? I have such a hard time cutting the dowels straight. What methods do you guys use? Also should I place the cakes directly on the cake plates, or on cardboard rounds first?
They saved the top tier, so I had to use cardboard on that one.
WHAT A DAY!! I think the leaning tiers was the least of your problems that day. I am assuming you are ok after hitting the deer? 
I'd love to help you in regards to the doweling but I'm quite new to this also and would love to hear what people have to say as I have the same problem.
Hope all is well!
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