Okay my 2 cents worth,
6" 8" 10" 12" dosn't really matter, they all take up the same amount of floor space give or take 10cm
so storage size doesn't matter.
I own a 10" SW and picked it up for 639 in perth recently, and using Yorks 20% off you too can get the 10" for that price.
I can lift the whole dob myself and it fits in the back of my Mazda MX6 coupe, and my gfs 2000 mod Lancer the OTA is 1200mm in length, so i slide that down the back between the rear bench seat, and the 2 front seats, supporting both ends with pillows. and then i sit the base up on the seat with a seat belt around. So portability aside.
Aperature rules.
Astro photography, you say your hubby's into photography, he will 99% get into astro photography. In saying this you can mount a 10" onto a good mount and take great photos as he will already have the cameras to do it.! (there will be a few more odds and ends that he will need. but all good for now).
To give you an idea of what you can see. pretty much everything. great optics and using Pyrex glass (like the stuff you use in the kitchen) holds great thermal stability allowing low cool down times 15 min and your pumping away looking at things.
Last night i looked at 47 Tucanae at the highest power eye piece i had, which was a combination of the standard 10mm skywatcher ep that comes with the whole setup and a 2x barlow which magnifies. I could pick out individual stars in the core and still was quite brite which i belive is great.
and no i do not live in pristene dark skys, i was on the edge of perth metro at the top of perth hills. 20min drive Bright sky glow one side, darkish skys the other.
Overall my skywatcher is a great setup, Azmith (round and round)is slighty stiff, but reasonably workable, declination (up and down) is perfect because of the tension handle. Collmination is easy as they now supply finger knobs on the rear cell. secondary alignment is realitively easy with the allen key provided.
My list i would get that would land you under 1000.
Sky watcher 10" $639
2x Barlow $70-100
40mm Wide angle eye piece $70-100
Astronomy 2009 $30
Planisphere $10-20
Mag light 2xAA sort- (buy a red LED from jaycar or dicksmiths) you can get a kit from woolies for $40 which has the 2xAA and 4x DD sort.
All up ~$900
With this in mind you might be able to get nicer ep's but for now this will give you a all round scope that can be converted in the future for photography, but sill give you extrodinary views till then.