I am thinking of investing in a round and a square silver plateaus but have some questions about what to get. I have only made 3 wedding cakes and have 2 more coming up...

What would be a good size to get? I was contemplating either the 18" or a 20" (which was a little harder to find). Should there be a lot of space left on the platter after you place your cake?

Also, what is the best way to use them? do you place your bottom tier on a cardboard and then on the platter? Do you put something in between to make sure the cake does not slip during transport?

Where is the best place to get them? I have been looking online at some retailers and also at ebay. I was surprised that I can find them cheaper somewhere other than ebay...

Sorry this is so long... but thanks for all your help!

I would definately put the bottom tier on a cardboard round, to prevent scratching/cutting into the platter itself.

Not sure how it would work with a large cake, but I know that with my smaller cakes, I stick some buttercream on the plate and use that to "glue" the cardboard to the plate (I use flat glass patisserie plates from Crate and Barrel) so it doesn't slide.

I recently invested in an 18" square plateau and am in the process of looking for a round plateau. I am considering the 20". My largest tiers are usually 16", so that will look OK on the 20" stand. I figure I can even make a 14" tier look OK.

I found a couple of sites online for the round one i am looking for- can't recall which one at the moment...if I find it i will let you know.

I also use a bit of icing (royal, if i have it on hand) to attach the cake board to the stand on site.

I also send a note of care instructions for the venue, and try to speak to someone there to make sure they remove the cake from the stand before they start cutting!

Gala Source has really good prices on their plateaus. HTH

I forgot to add that GalaSource has a 22 inch round plateau for 89.99. Is this too big to place a 16" round?

I dont have any help on the OP's question but some of you say you're using buttercream under the board on the plateau. If I am concerned about slippage I often use the shelf liner stuff that keep things from slipping. Sometimes its used under a rug, etc. I use this in the car during transport too. I use it under my board on my turn table. I also use this between the cardboard and my cake plates. It works great.

Don't transport your cake on the plateau.. that's begging for trouble. I like the non-skid shelf liner too.. just a small square (3") will do more than fine.

I think that more than 4" larger than your bottom tier will be too large, but that's my personal preference.

I have the 18" round and square ones. Definitely put the bottom cake on cardboard. I actually tape my cardboard onto the plateau (double sided tape or usually folded over). I transport the bottom tier on the plateau ... it's taped down just fine, never moves.

You want the cardboard between the cake and plateau (1) to protect the plateau when cutting (2) if there is any cake leftover, you want the client to be able to remove the cardboard with leftover cake from your plateau so the plateau can be returned right away, instead of just whenever they finally get around to eating that cake.

On the homepage of my website is a 8/10/12/14 square cake on a 18" plateau. While it looks ok and there is plenty of room to add flowers and decoration, I think the cake looks a little small on there .... so a 16" cake on an 18" plateau would be perfect, to me.