Save the dates yes or no

Invitations are a must, STDs aren't. We penned in our STD in our Christmas cards last year just to save time and money. If they really mean that much to your grandmother then she can pay for and send them out. If not, just stick with the Invitations. STDs get thrown away most of the time anyway!

Personally, I think save the dates are a waste of money unless you are having a destination wedding, in which instance, they give ample notice to your guests to start saving / ask for time off work.

Invitations only go out 6-8 weeks prior to the wedding - sending them now pretty much guarantees you’ll have to follow up every single one, because if you set an early RSVP date no one will respond because they don’t know what they’re doing in February next year, and if you set a late RSVP date (say 4 weeks prior to the wedding, which is usual) everyone will have lost the invitation by then. Save the dates don’t need to be expensive, we did them electronically which cost us nothing. I just got a picture of the two of us, put a filter on it and put some text over the top (date and place of the wedding, basically). You don’t have to do them but if you decide you want to, they don’t have to be fancy.

It is way too early to send invites. They are usually not sent until 6-8 weeks before the wedding. No one will be able to tell you now if they can attend a wedding in February. If you want them to know the date of the wedding prior to 6-8 weeks then I would recommend save the dates. You can get ones made rather inexpensively at Walmart. That's what one of my friends did and they looked very pretty. You could also do an electronic save the date.

I did paperless STDs. It was basically free!

You don't have to send save the dates, but you shouldn't send invitations until November at the earliest (early December is a good time to send February invitations because it's close enough that people know their plans for your date, but late enough that they don't get lost/mixed up with Christmas cards).
A happy medium would be to order save the dates, but only for people who absolutely MUST be there (as in you'd consider changing the date if they couldn't be there).
We sent our magnets (2 sets of them, because of covid) to everyone we planned to invite, but we ordered them from Shutterfly. They came out great and weren't very expensive (also, Shutterfly has awesome customer service).If you only sent yours to, for example, immediate family members and your bridal party, your grandmother could have something to stick on her fridge so she wouldn't have a reason to bug you about this for the next 7+ months, but it wouldn't cost you a fortune.
Another option is to do them via paperless post. My friends did that and it allowed them to collect addresses for the invitations, which seems pretty convenient.

Invitations should not go out now. They should go out sometime around Christmas or the beginning of December for a February wedding. Save the dates don’t have to be expensive. I printed mine for $7 (for 40) at Office Max using a free template I found online and a cheap box of envelopes. They are in no way a must, but they’re nice so that guests are aware of your date especially if many guests need to travel to your event.

Save the dates aren't required, but I definitely wouldn't send invitations out yet for a February wedding its too far in advance. I haven't even sent mine for my October one yet

They aren't a necessity, but if you don't send them, your guests may make other plans for that day. You're 8 months out, so this would be an ideal time to send them. How many of your guests are local vs. traveling? If a lot of them will need to book flights and hotels, I would do it ASAP. Alternatively you could send digital ones, or just a phone call for any guests who aren't internet-savvy.

Save the Dates are optional, but it is way, WAY too early to send out invitations. Ideally, you want to send those out 6-8 weeks before your wedding, depending on when your vendor(s) need your final guest count. I know you're probably excited to send them out but they will get lost, overlooked, and guests simply will not know their availability this far in advance. That's what a Save the Date helps do - gives them a heads up on the date so they can mark it on their calendar, knowing that an invitation will follow later on.

Like others said, it’s too early for invitations, but I’d recommend sending some form of a Save the Date! Even a paperless one works. This gives guests time to make accommodations and save vacation days, and gives them a heads up to not make other plans. We sent Save the Date’s in January for our October wedding. It’s peak season and over half our guest list is from out of town, so we wanted to give ample notice.

I agree with the others that it's way too early to send out your invites. Save the dates aren't necessary, but if you're wanting to skip them and have guests that will need to travel, I'd at least send their invites out a little earlier than 6-8 weeks. The rest can be sent out at the appropriate time though.

We sent std's because both of us have a lot of family that live out of state and the country, so we wanted to make sure they had plenty of notice before we send invites out.

Send save the dates 6-12 months ahead. Invites go out at 6-8 weeks before the wedding standard or the info will be lost and forgotten.

I spent a grand total of $48 on email save the dates from paperless post - the only reason i spent any money at all is because my guest list is so large - i think the first 50 you send are free!

Agree with everyone else - dont send invites yet, its too far out. I am sending my invites out this week and my wedding is in 2.5 months.