I read other posts that suggested carving and then filling and stacking.

It seems, however, that since filling will increase the height, how can you accurately carve before you fill!?

I am not using any fancy fillings! I plan on using simple buttercream ("Julie's Less Sweet BC"), fairly thick and then trying the white chocolate ganache to coat the finished carved cake.

Am I correct to fill and stack before carving?

I also like to fill and stack and then carve. After filling and stacking, I let the cake settle. Then I carve to the desired shape. This ensures that the final shape is exactly what I want.

If you fill and stack after carving, you may end up having to do some more carving anyway since the extra height added after filling will alter the original shape.

I hope that made sense...lol

Maybe those posts meant they carve EDGES off before filling and stacking!?

Any cake i have carved, i have always filled first. I've only stuck with buttercream between the layers because i don't know how you would fill a cake with something like lets say strawberry filling and then carve it. I would think you would end up carving away the dam that holds it in the cake.
Also if you fill the cake after you carve it i would think it would be pretty hard to match up the placement of each layer being that the edges would all be different angles etc..