Do your research and then go to ebay. You can buy new and used machines at a fraction of the cost and quite often delivery is free. I bought a Brother that retailed for $560 for $189. You can buy the accessory pieces as well. They have all of the major brands so you really can get what almost any machine you want.
You won't get the lessons that a local dealer might offer but if you're all about the bottom line you sure get a lot of bang for your buck. Use a paypal account and the whole thing is money-back guaranteed.
Even if you decide not to buy on-line, go ahead and print out some of the offers to take to your local dealer and use them as leverage to get him to offer you a discount or throw in some freebies.
Hope this helps. Your wife is one lucky gal and you tell her I said so.