So, a couple weeks ago my brother had a quick wedding. No reception. So, we're having a late reception next Sunday. I was volunteered to do the cake. It doesn't have to be fancy, but I wanted to make a tier cake. I was reading about how to stack cakes, and frankly, I'm terrified.
Do I have to use dowels? I don't want the cake to sink or anything, but I'm totally confused. I need a "Tier Cake for Dummies" kind of instruction.
If you have time, try to get bubble tea straws and cut them just a smidge higher than the tier, or they have the SPS System that you could order (I've never used it, but I have heard rave reviews. You can use dowels, a lot of people do. I don't like them because they are harder to cut for me because of arthritis.
When transporting a tier cake, I take the tiers separately and set the cake up at the venue. It's a matter of choice, but I find this works best for me.
I hope this helped. If you have any further questions, please feel free to pm me and I will do my best to help you.
Enjoy your day!
If you're nervous about using (wooden?) dowels, there are other options that are easier.
The hidden pillars can be cut to the height of your cake and the top tier places right on top of them. (If the top tier is on a plate, the legs of the plate fit right into the hidden pillars.) http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E3119F0-475A-BAC0-5772682F766C019C&fid=63EB9DA7-475A-BAC0-522158B536D3E04A
Push-in pillars are also easy and don't require cutting but they leave a space between your tiers. http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E3119FF-475A-BAC0-56858282E1C02DE1&fid=63EB9DD6-475A-BAC0-5CC92A385169EC6C
Yes, you must dowel a stacked cake. You can use wooden dowels, plastic dowels, or bubble tea straws, but you have to use something. Here are some good pictorials on the Wilton site about how to dowel a cake.
http://www.wilton.com/cakes/tiered-cakes/using-dowel-rods.cfm
http://www.wilton.com/cakes/tiered-cakes/stacked-tiered-cake-construction.cfm
Good luck! Once you get started, you'll see it's not as scary as it seems! 
Let me tell you, you guys are awesome. I put this post up, get my son to sleep, come back, and I have replies. Thank you all so much. I'm going to check out those links and see what I feel most comfortable with.
At least the cake is strictly for family and everyone knows this will be my first tier cake. So, that helps my nerves, too! I still want it to look nice, though. 
This might be a dumb question, but do I need to frost the layers before I stack them?
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