My timing was slightly different as we were only 8 months out when my TA got pricing for me, but once we had that, we sent out e-stds, with a link to our wedding website which then had all the details about booking and the deposits, etc. Then I sent out the actual paper invites out 2 months prior. Honestly, I didn't really need those, because we basically know who is coming except for a couple of people, but I wanted to send them. And it did get people to go back to the website to read all the updated info and give us a meal choice.