Letting family members know about the date

It is too early. Most people send out STDs/save the dates 1yr-6month before the wedding, esp for those traveling. If you don't want to spend the money on them you can do it electronically through email. But either way I'd wait until July of this year to do so.

Typically save the dates are sent out 8-6 months away from the wedding and invitations are sent out 8-6 weeks before the wedding. 8 months is too early to send invitations, people will forget or they don't know schedules that early on to RSVP.

I'm not sending invitations just quick text letting them know we have a date and that an invitation will be given closer to the date

I'm confused as to why you want to send your invitations out so early...6-8 months? This is what STD's are for, they cover alerting all of your OOT guests. Send out the actual invites 6-8 weeks before the wedding.

I also would let people know the date if they ask, but if you haven't booked with the venue yet I wouldn't be spreading the word in case it changes due to availability.

The venue is booked for ceremony and reception it's going to be at same place. I just booked my minister too. So basics are done

We have guest traveling from outside of the country, so we will send STD to them. Invitations are going out 8-6 weeks before. Aside from that, if they want to know anything they can call me or my mom for details.

It's too early. The guest like can easily change with so much time between now and the wedding. Also, if I got a text from someone telling me their wedding was in a year and a half, I'd congratulate them and pretty much immediately forget the date. I might write it down, but would more likely think, "I don't need to worry about this now" and forget it. People don't plan that far in advance. When I get an STD 6 months out or an invite 2 months out, that's when I make my travel plans. Not sure why it's necessary to tell people now when you can just send STDs (I agree w/ FFW that electronic is fine) and later invites at the standard times people have been saying. I get bringing it up if you're already talking w/ someone or if they ask, but seems unnecessary to reach out to people and to lock yourself into a guest list this far out.

You only have a date if you have a venue booked. If you've signed a contract with a venue on X date, then I would notify a very limited list of VIPs. In my case, I only told about 20 people - close family coming from out of state, and my oldest friends who I know need lots of time to save up travel money.

If you dont want to spend on STDs you can do it electronically. FH and i created a survey on google forms and we added a few pictures of us. We asked basic questions like name, contact info, #of family members and if they would most likely be able to attend, maybe or definitely not. It was very helpful. We got an estimate of guests adults and children. We sent it mostly to our OOT guests coming from Mexico and other states in the US. We sent it out at the 1yr mark and we got alot of responses.