I booked my wedding there for Nov29th 2014 and they asked for a deposit as well. It's simply to secure the rooms and the rate. If you need more time to make sure this is the hotel u want, I would ask for a later date for the deposit (1 year seems really early). If ur certain it's the hotel u want (isn't it beautiful!???) I would just put the deposit down. They told me that the deposit can be applied to your wedding once your guests book the rooms and pay (unless ur paying for all the rooms). I don't know about the second payment ur referring to...hmmmm.
