Hi Briana,
welcome to the alpine snowboard world.
Actually I am also a beginner on alpine snowboard, start from this season. Just as all the previous comments, boots is the 1st priority and I had painful experience about it. I accidentally chose the Deeluxe 425 pro as my 1st hard boot, even though Sean suggested me the other options, I thought the stiffer boot would last longer without thinking about the comfort of my feet (big regret!). It was way too stiff that I even posted a thread to ask about how to initial toe side turn with it ( I was pretty good on toe side with soft boot). My personal experience is to go with a more flex boots and got it boot fitted with an expert. Good luck and you will feel in love with carving on those beasts!