i have a good friend's wedding in october and she asked me to make her wedding cake! the place is 2 hours away and the cake should be for 200-250 people, so i plan on 5 tiers (from 14 to 8 or 6). so should i plan to travel with the cakes stacked or should i travel with them separate and stack them at location? also, is it easier to travel with the cakes if they are covered in fondant? i usually use IMBC, but wouldn't mind using fondant.
Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated!

I just drove 2 hours with a 2-tier stacked cake without so much as the slightest ding. However, if I were taking 5 tiers, I would take them separately and assemble on site. Not only would I fear toppling but the weight and height may make it difficult to handle.

Others who travel with cakes regularly may have better suggestions, but I put a foam slab a couple inches thick in the back of my small SUV. I placed another foam slab on a piece of 3/4" thick plywood about 24" x 30", then transferred the cake to the foam-covered plywood ( I don't think the thickness and size of the plywood matters as much as just making sure it's rigid). I set a large cardboard box over the cake and with my hubby's help set the plywood holding the cake on the foam in the back of the vehicle.

The cake was covered in fondant over ganache, and all the decorations were of fondant. I attached all the decorations with royal icing. We avoided steep hills and took sharp curves slowly.

Nothing bad happened to my cake and if you plan your transport carefully, I bet nothing bad happens to yours!

Don't forget to consider how heavy a 5 tier cake will be!!! I had JUST a 4 tier last weekend all stacked with a ceramic square tile as the base.... and I was wishing the design would have allowed me to transport in 2 pieces!

Highly recommend the SPS for the cake. I would think the biggest problem would be the height and weight as previously mentioned. If the time or space is the issue, maybe stack them the bottom 3 tiers and the top 2 tiers - whatever would be easiest for you to carry and stack.

I just did a five tiered with the SPS system. I did it in two parts and the only problem I had was some bulging on one tier but that was the only problem.

As others have said, you really want to use SPS for your support system for this. The cake will travel stacked, but I would not be able to lift it. I pretty much always take the top tier - at least - separately so that I can check the cake for level one last time. But whatever you do, use SPS.

What is SPS? Su-Pport System? Hah - bad joke.

I would like to know though.......

S ingle P late S ystem

thanks for the suggestions... i will check out the sps!
and will probably travel unstacked...
i didn't think of the weight, but now that you mention it, the cakes do get heavy!