Wedding Venue Ideas

So my fiance and I keep going back and forth about our wedding and what we are looking for. We are open to have a smaller wedding because we are trying to cut costs. We have no financial support from either side, so all wedding costs are on us. (Its not a big deal since we knew that going in - both sides are just tight on money). For me, $15k was still just too much money to spend on one day and we just purchased a house 6 months ago that needs some work...so, you see where I am going with this?



We have decided to limit down our wedding count to 40-50 people where we could have some immediate friends and family come out and spend the day with us. We are from Sterling Heights, MI but are interested in the Ann Arbor/Grand Rapids area. Because it is such a small wedding, we are willing to travel a bit to get more of the venue that we are looking for.
I would love to have it at a brewery or somewhere where we could have catering that won't cost too much. I was hoping that the venue and food costs would only be around $5k for that amount of people but I am struggling to find a place that I like. We would be spending the whole weekend there so we would ideally like to be in a place where we could go to other places around us. I wouldn't mind staying here in the metro Detroit area but I am in severe need of some recommendations for venues that won't cost us an arm and a leg.
Have you been to a venue that you liked? Or maybe you had a small wedding? Should we go smaller and just invite only family? I'm just looking for some guidance!