Hello all!

My FI and I just got engaged over 2 months ago and we're having a tough time settling on a date.
My parents have made their wishes very clear that we give our engagement ample amount of time and they really don't want us to be married before 2013. With that being said, as of now my FI's unit is scheduled to deploy in October of 2013. And we all know the military...that will definitely change! I have my heart set on a spring date, and so far May 26 is sounding good. But is that too close? It's memorial day weekend and we live in Chicago, so popular venues book VERY quickly especially on high-demand weekends, like ours. So we need to really be looking and booking a venue ASAP. Any thoughts? He's National Guard if that helps.
Then again one of his buddies in his unit told us not to worry about the deployment date, but I definitely don't want to lose any money with deposits and such. Thanks ladies!!!