1. I am getting married on October 31, 2015. Caterer needs final head count by October 21, and hotel room block rate expires on October 2 (this is included on our accommodation card in the invites). We were hoping to ask guests to RSVP to us by Octover 17 (so in case we find some haven't returned it gives us a few days to track them down with phone calls before we need to let our caterer know the final count). With that being said, when should the invitations go in the mail? Is August 17 (8 weeks before we want responses) too early? I originally thought giving guests more time to make arrangements would be best, but if it's too soon, do people forget to RSVP?
2. When wording the invite and writing out the year is it "two thousand and fifteen" or just "two thousand fifteen"? When reading numbers I know you're technically never supposed to say "and" but do invitations have different etiquette or does it just look better?