Are cake stands necessary?

Not necessary! My venue is providing the cake stands for our cakes though so I got lucky.

I'm making mine from China and candle sticks I've been collecting from Goodwill. I have E6000 glue so they'll even be dishwasher safe. We're having 5 different sizes cakes so I wasn't down for spending thousands on cake stands.

Probably depends on the baker. We did cupcakes and top tier and rented the stand from the baker. I think it's more likely you'd just rent the baker's than they'd provide it (they are running a business, after all), which is why some people choose to buy/make one.

The cake will come on a firm board of some sort - they have to be able to move it - but not on a stand that will elevate the cake. Why would you want to elevate the cake? It really only matters if you are putting decorations around it, IMO. We did double-duty for the cake table and our memorial to loved ones, so I needed the cake to be raised up some. Here's a pic. The silver round thing was what the caterer delivered on. The wooden box frame I bought as a cake stand.

SIZE: Our base layer was 18" - that is a 22" square cake stand. Bakers need a minimum of 2", but preferably 4" of space around the cake to safely maneuver a large cake onto a cake stand, so if you are ordering a 2-tier cake with an 8" and 10" layer, get a 12"-14" stand.

WEIGHT: Make sure before you buy a cake stand you check with your baker how much the cake will weigh! A 3-tier wedding cake will weight more than 50 pounds, and most of the 'decorative' cake stands can't hold that much weight. Our cake was for 120 people, and we estimated it would weigh somewhere around 80 pounds with all the icing on it.

ECONOMIC OPTIONS: Many ladies here are building their own, but if you're not going to have a cake larger than 50 pounds, also check out the excellent options on Save-On-Crafts.com .... I bought a 22" BEAUTIFUL pedestal cake stand that holds 50 lbs. (before I learned my lesson) for $40, which I later found selling for $80 on Wayfair.com! Same. Exact. Item. Etsy also has options made from wood and rustic ones, but they are hella expensive in most cases. Mine was from Etsy, a guy from Montana who makes them as a hobby, and his are simple, but 1/2 the price of most others.

Your cake has to go on SOMETHING so it can be moved. I feel like most people use stands because they want it to look pretty. We're using just a cake board from the baker because it's free. If we used her stands there was a rental fee.

Ours will be on a glass cake stand because it isn't very big and we thought it would look better with some height. Someone lent us one so free is good!

Definitely not needed!! But I bought one and I am so excited for it idk why lol

I made mine from candlesticks for both the cakes and cookies.

Are the candlestick ones stable?

I have a cakestand, actually, but I didn't use it for the wedding. The cake came on a cardboard round (shiny, not absorbing the moisture), and I hadn't bothered to bring the stand when I left the house anyway, and it didn't really need an additional plate.