Looking for first impressions — am I overthinking this? [v3]

Looking for honest feedback, not validation. Maybe an unpopular opinion but here we go. For context, I am working with a pretty modest budget so high-end suggestions probably will not land.

Maybe an unpopular opinion but here we go. Spent the last few weekends digging into this and the deeper I go the more questions I have. There is a lot of conflicting advice online and most of it is from 2019.

Quick context: I am relatively new to this and trying to find my footing.