We just finished the whole contract process, so I'll give you the timeline and you should have a better gague as to when to expect stuff to happen..... (We have an in-park reception so we were able to get the contract done at 1 year out, you may need to wait til 8 months out for GF as it is one of the convention locations.)
Oct 30, 2006 (16 months before Wedding Date)
Site Visit with SM
Nov 2006 (15 months before Wedding Date)
Sent e-mail to SM with our desired date/locations.
Received e-mail back from SM confirming reciept of request.
Feb 14, 2007 (Exactly 1 year out from our requested date)
Received phone call from SM that our date/location was available.
Received e-mail from SM with additional info needed to draw up the contract (financially responsible persons, complete contact info, guest list worksheet, and room block spreadsheet)
**NOTE: The time between these two steps took a little longer than usual because our date was on the end of Value Season and beginning of Peak Season room rates and the SM had to get it straightened out which rates our guests would be getting. So she requested that we hang on to all the above stuff til Mar 19th to send in.**
Mar 19, 2007 (approx 11 months to go)
Sent in all the above requested info (except the guest list, we were told to hang on to that til the contract was signed and deposit sent in) and received e-mail from SM that it was received and contract will be drawn up.
Apr 5, 2007
Received contract in e-mail format along with a few other files.
Reviewed and signed contract. (It's really long, so take your time to read everything carefully!)
Sent contract and deposit check USPS priority mail to DFTW.
Apr 9, 2007
Phone call from SM that she got the contract and deposit.
Apr 12, 2007
Sent our guest list excel worksheet to SM.
Apr 17, 2007 (approx 10 months to go)
Got USPS certified mail containing signed contract and our AP's
Apr 27, 2007
Got phone call from our WP introducing herself and outlining the next steps.
Got A LOT of files via e-mail from WP and her assistant with all the planning pages etc.
We and our guests all got thier Save The Dates in the mail
Received big envelope in mail from SM with extra Save The Date's
Apr 28, 2007
Scheduled appointment with WP for Planning Session and Cake Tasting in Sept (it will be 5 months out from our wedding date).
At the time it seemed like it was taking FOREVER for stuff to happen, but it was a great relieve getting the call from the SM that we got our date/location, and then a few weeks after that EVERYTHING started to happen and move along.
I would expect to get some type of e-mail/phone call that DFTW did get your requested dates/locations by now. But I wouldn't expect to hear anything else til Oct/Nov this year.
HTH
Brandi