I got married in October and still haven't done the name change thing with Delta. I keep waiting until I have a couple of weeks without travel, so will probably do it in September.

If the name change becomes legal in August and she's not flying till December, that's plenty of time to get the account switched over. Book the ticket in her new name, fax the marriage certificate in as soon as you have it in your hot little hands, and be done with it. Don't dilly-dally like I did. (They won't do the name change without the marriage certificate, and as others said, you can track the ticket online through other means.)