Central Park weddings!

Hey :)

I'm new to these forums and am just finding my way around :)

I live in England, UK and got engaged in New York (Tiffanys!) in August 2009.

We are planning a summer 2012 wedding and would love to get married in Central Park.

We understand that a permit is required to ensure that we get the spot in the Park we'd like. We also know that we cannot apply for this permit until January 1st 2012 :(

What experiences have others had applying for thier permits? We would really like to go ahead making other plans, especially booking flights, as they earlier that we do this the cheaper it will be....

What are the chances of getting the day you want when you apply for your permit? Has anyone had their permit declined or been told to change dates?

We would be only a small wedding party - 15 guests max - so we know that a permit is not 100% necessary but we'd like to guarantee our spot.

Any advice on what we should do would be huggeeellly appreciated! Do we hold off making any other plans at all until we get our permit?

Thanks a bunch in advance!!

Wendy xx