Thank you everyone for the well wishes!!
We did decide on the Ides of March, because we started dating on "Remember Remember the 5th of November", lol. So we thought it would be pretty funny to pick another "historical day".
My mom is just full to bursting with excitement. It's so cute. We had a family birthday thing this weekend and I asked her not to say anything because I didn't want to detract from the birthday festivities, she told me she had to really concentrate on not just blurting it out!
She offered her back yard as a ceremony and reception space. I will consider it, but my initial thought is to veto - she has plants and trees dotting the yard sporadically, so there's not really any cohesive "blank space". And her home is actually quite small, and her AC struggles already, so ultimately, I feel like it would be a really big burden on her house (not her).
I did try to talk to the bf over the weekend about what all he would like (lots of guests, ceremony/reception or just a big celebration, etc) and he told me that he hasn't really thought of the logistics. I gently reminded him that a lot of places need months if not years to take reservations, so the quicker we agree to what we want to do, the better it'll turn out. He is going to make a list of things he'd like and we can decide from there.
I spent the weekend looking at Airbnbs like Bluecastle suggested, and it turns out that my state has a ton of options. There are even places that have little farms with goats, alpacas, and goats!! I think they sound fun, but I'm pretty sure my family would think it was weird, lol. I kind of thought of booking a house that has a bunch of rooms and spaces available for people to crash for a weekend. There are some houses that are huge and have 6, 7, 8 bedrooms, plus the entire house. Of course these for go $300-$800 for a night, but think renting them out for, say, a Friday - Sunday, where it includes all the amenities of a house... well, I feel like it would still be cheaper than a venue that goes for thousands of dollars for a few hours. A lot of bigger houses like that have pools, so we could do a BBQ and pool party thing with a bunch of family and friends? And there was a handful of places like this that had large, private backyards, too. I could ask if they were equipped to handle wedding ceremonies. Idk, it's a thought.
Another option is to have our parents join us for a ceremony at the courthouse, and then rent out a space somewhere for a celebration. We have too many family members and friends between us to have it at a normal-sized house.
But I do like the idea as well of just taking off for a couple days, or like a week, and going somewhere private.
Someone asked if our religions would be an issue with children: we do not want children. Just lots of dogs.