I am looking for a pedestal cake stand that can hold a 16" round, 4tier cake. Do you know where I can find one. I can't seem to find one anywhere. I this because it is too much cake to be on a pedestal stand? My husband said that maybe he can make one from wood, but I am a little unsure about it...any insight?

It's SO hard to find pedestal cake stands beyond the regular 12" ones! I've been collecting them for years from eBay, Craigslist, etc. whenever I spot them.

The easiest way to support heavier cakes/base cakes over 14" is to either rent or buy a large plateau like this one. They aren't really cheap, (I did manage to find this 18" one for $120, but saw them for $100-$300 online), but you can rnet them out for $20+ per wedding and make your money back pretty fast:

The only silver stands I have seen that large are cake plateaus, and they aren't pedestal types. I have a pretty large collection of pedestal cake plates but the largest I have found is 14". What you can do is buy a 14" stand and have a plastics shop cut a 16" or 18" circle of clear lucite. Glue the lucite to the surface of the stand with the type of clear adhesive you use to adhere photos to the wall without nailing, can't think of the correct name.

I was just about to post about a question about these. Where should I look for a silver pedestal like Antonia's? I checked ebay and came up with nothing. Does anyone know where I can buy one retail?

Here's a link to several on ebay http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&satitle=cake+plateau

Hisdesigns has some nice plateaus and a bit cheaper than other places. Still expensive but if you take care of them they will last a lifetime. Make sure you charge a large enough deposit to cover replacement if they don't return them.
http://www.weddingcakestands.com/homeplateau.htm

You can find a big selection, different sizes round and square, of silver plateau stands at cakesbysam.

I think if you put a 16 inch bottom cake tier on something that is only 5 or 6 inches wide at the table, you're asking for trouble.
It seems to me as though it would be a tad 'tippy'. Might be why they are hard to find?