Never thought I'd be getting married.

Brunch/lunch receptions are much more affordable than evening receptions as well as getting married any other day than a Saturday. Community centers and parks are affordable venues. You could also have a cake/punch reception rather than a full meal. As far as flowers, Costco has affordable bridal packages.

I was never one of those girls that had my whole wedding planned out as a kid or ever even thought about it 1 way or the other. There are tons of great planning tools on here and The Knot. The first thing I'd start with is sitting down with your your and discussing a budget you are both comfortable spending, a tentative guest list so you know how big of a venue you need, and a general time-frame in which you want to get married. From there, I would use websites like WeddingWire, The Knot, and Eventdetective to find venues that fit your budget and can accommodate your approximate guest list. Once you book a venue, you can move on to things like caterer, photographer, dj, etc. It's great that your fiance has given you "full creative freedom" but I would explain to him that he needs to assist you, as it is his wedding too and it isn't fair for him to just throw all the burden of planning onto you.

Get some paper out and just brainstorm things you’d like - dancing? Bridesmaids? Just one? Dress up or more casual? That sort of thing. Just write it all down and you see a picture emerge.
Congratulations!

I never had a daydream of my perfect wedding growing up. My parents divorced when I was young with each of them marrying a couple of times so a solid relationship was the fantasy. I’ve been married before but never had a real wedding. When my husband & I started dating, we weren’t looking for anything serious. 20 years later (married on 4/3/21) I know without a doubt he’s the one. We were apart for 6 years before we got back together- we both know there’s nobody else!
Figure out your budget & guest list so you have a starting point. I love Wedding Wire for these forums but have seen too many people having issues with their websites that they purchased on here. I used The Knot for our website which is free. It kept me on track so I didn’t feel overwhelmed. My husband’s a firefighter/medic & the captain of his crew. That means he’s extremely busy both on & off shift. The majority of the planning fell onto my shoulders which I was fine with- I narrowed down our options before presenting them to him so we could decide together.
Do you have any family that you could use their backyard? I officiant did hot air balloon weddings that he said was a lot of fun & very affordable. Maybe have a reception with just immediate family after at a nice restaurant?

1) Nothing wrong with eloping!
2) get yourself a planning binder/make one with free downloads, then set budget
3) number of guests impacts budget significantly4) always communicate with your fiancé 5)Hi! Congratulations!!So my wife and I really didn’t want to spend much money, so we tried capping at $1000.
Big savings were: used our backyard, played music on borrowed speakers from Apple Music on an iPhone, my MOH’s husband took pictures (not a photographer), fake flowers and minimal decorations, an uncle grilled food we got at bulk pricing, and we used upscale plastic ware for eating. Tables and chairs were all family loans. Wife’s suit was one she owned. Printed our own invites (before covid but for our reschedule we emailed- should’ve done that from the start).I spent ‘big’ money on my dress ($350 including alterations) and the cake ($250). I haven’t done my final tally but I think we’re pretty on point for our budget. It was a lot of work, a lot of coupon clipping, watching for sales, borrowing freezer space from parents and we got a good amount of labor from family and friends.

I haven't had my wedding planned since I was a kid either. We don't want to break the bank with our wedding and would much rather spend the money on practical things, so we narrowed down what was most important to us, who we truly wanted there, and what we were comfortable spending. Our wedding is in December and it's saving us a TON of money since it's considered the off-season and we're getting married on Thursday. I used Pinterest as a way to find inspiration or typed ideas into Google Images and browsed through that. Do you have any idea what season you want to get married in?