Welcome! I'm new here, too, but not to RVing. Maybe our experience can help.
My understanding is that the average number of rigs people go through before they find the right one is 4 (!!!) We are on our second. The first was a 35' 5th wheel that we built. It was just too big and we weren't excited about driving it around. The second one is a 27'6" overall travel trailer, and it suits us perfectly. I think we got lucky, though, and also had a little experience.
We started out thinking we'd like to convert a school bus, so we marked out the space inside a bus on our house floor with tape and lived only in that space for about 6 months. That space, btw, is 7'X25', not a lot of space! We did fine there, but could see how more space would be nice, and that's how we decided to build that 35-footer. We found the frame on craigslist and didn't want to modify it.
What we know for sure is that you should try hard to identify what is most important to you and not compromise on that (or those) things. To us, a quality build, good insulation, everything working properly (i.e. NEW), and the right layout was most important. We refused to compromise on any one of those points when we put out almost $30k, and have not been sad for one second that we did.
I am not sure it would do a marriage good to have a rig that one person was not excited about. There are so many out there, there really isn't a need to "take what you can get," in my opinion. Check out RV trader online, for example. Hundreds of thousands of rigs for sale!
Even if you don't want to buy new, go to some lots and walk through as many as you can. Visualize your day, night, weekend, breakfast, Sunday morning, gathering of friends, whatever scenarios you might find yourself in and ask yourself, "Would this layout/rig do OK in that situation?" Maybe even prioritize that list. Perhaps you don't like other people in your home, so that doesn't matter at all, but you love to make pancakes or a roast on Sunday and the kitchen is super important to you.
If just being out of the rain is the main objective, a hotel room or even a rental cabin at an RV park may well be cheaper in the long run with no associated fuel costs (and zero commitment!)
There is always the option of renting an RV to try it out. That could tell you a lot right there. And have fun exploring!