You could visit a local nursery to ask an expert and view prices. Your county or state extention office should have a web site with tips or may offer direct advice (or even inexpensive native bare-root trees).

You're looking at 5-10$ for a bare-root seedling from a site like ArborDay.org all the way up to hundreds of dollars for a larger tree installed by a pro. (and several options in between).

I like to just order the tiny bare-root trees from Arbor Day Foundation or other online sources and watch them grow. :-) It's inexpensive entertianment.

Eventually this website will help people in your situation, but it doesn't have a lot of trees in the database quite yet.

http://www.banyanconnections.com/dev/treefinder/Tree%20Finder.php

Flowering Dogwoods will do perfectly well in full sun, and will at the largest be around 30 ft (Cornus florida), though I have never seen one that large. They will not grow as tall in the sun and will branch out and be more rounded.

You might try Kousa dogwood (Cornus Kousa) that only gets 20' tall and 15' wide. It blooms a little later than cornus florida but has equally beautiful flowers (white color).

Both dogwoods should be at almost any tree place. Home depot will have both. Cornus kousa will be a bit more expensive and is a little slower growing.

-Werner J Stiegler

Most trees you find at nurseries are going to be older than 3 years old unless it's just an itty bitty lil thing but there's a lot to choose from at online specialty nurseries that are probably in the 2-3 year range that will come bare root or in a little tube.

You didn't say where you're located but since it's zone 7 I'm assuming the north part of the south or the mid atlantic region of the usa? In this region, both dogwoods and japanese maples do best in part shade.

You didn't say when exaclty your anniversary is however we are entering a time of year that mail order nurseries do not ship plants and it's not a good time to plant. In fact for the DC area, temps next week are due to hit 90.

Answers to your questions
1.) photos always get the creative juices flowing. Off the top of my head the flowering cherries are generally readily available even though it wouldn't be my personal first choice.

2.) No. it's not going to be easy to find a place that can really honestly tell you how old their plants are. Local garden center stock is going to be older unless it's in a 1 gallon container.

3.) There are lot of unreputable online nurseries. Only a handful are reputable. A few brought up here as being trustworthy are Oikos, forest farm and musser forests are a few that are trustworthy. You can do a search online for " ____ nursery name reviews" to get customer opinions.
It's probably to late to order online in your locale. A local garden center or nursery would be the ideal choice if you still have any. In my area about all we have are lowes and depot to choose from.

I personally like the cheezy idea of planting a 3 year old tree. I won't be big. You'll probably need to build a little 3 ft chicken wire circle around it to protect the fella from critters and pull the weeds away for a couple years.

But it is NEAT to watch the little buggers grow, and they need staked less frequently and recover from transplanting quicker. I have as good a luck transplanting mail-order saplings (when I pick a reasonable one for my area) as root traumatized burlaped nursery trees.

Here is a link that might be useful: I don't know if this tree is a good idea in your area but I notice Musser lists how old a transplant it is which serves your purpose

This is probably not the advice you wanted, but as a guy who likes trees, I'd much prefer to pick out that specimen tree that will be the centerpiece of my yard. To take some advice from my wife regarding buying personal presents, sometimes the really great present is to go with your spouse to the store where you want to buy a gift, and let him/her pick it out. You've got so many factors to consider such as size, shape, whether you want spring blooms or fall color, how much shade you want, if you want fruit to attract birds or eat, how much the tree will litter, how much care you want to give it once in the ground, whether there is a root concern if you have septic, etc. So, maybe you can go with him to a quality nursery and let him ask questions and look around and pick out what he thinks he'd like. I'd love that gift.
That being said, I really like white dogwoods, too.

What is the greatest (& shortest) height & width you'd be open to? 'Medium' is subject to interpretation.

How far from the house, driveway and side-walk/street will this tree be?

Be mindful that some fruit trees can make a mess with fallen fruit; is there a little kid who'll be running around under it in a small yard & track in fruit juice on your carpet? I'm reminded of someone posting not to plant Crape Myrtles where you'll park cars under them, since the shedding flowers can do a number on your paint job.

Japanese Maples are like dogs; one species but so many sizes, shapes & colors that getting one different from the neighbors is a non-issue. I think Bloodgood is said to handle sun better than some; not sure how it'd do there. Some people think burgandy red foliage is beautiful and some think it's gaudy, so be mindful of your husband's preferences.

Someone asked if this will be near a septic system; that's a very important question!

I wonder if a Paperbark Maple would be a good choice for you? Peeling bark, nice foliage, good-sized but not huge, rather unusual but you can get a hold of them, option for mult-trunk if memory serves.

Some people like Japanese or Korean Stewartia, although it's my impression from reading about them that they're not as broadly adaptable as some trees so I'd research before I committed to one. Shantung Maple might serve for maple lovers, although as I believe Ken Adrian has pointed out elsewhere due to dense, fibrous shallow root systems, it's often hard to garden under maples, so if you're been on planting hostas or something under the tree, such a maple might not be your thing.

Do you want an evergreen so it stays pretty in winter? Something like an Oakleaf Holly might be workable - self-pollinating (unlike most hollies) so you get pretty berries.

Richard.

What geographic area are you in?

I posted earlier today answering all your questions, but my post isn't here???

It's all for naught anyway; I came home today to find a nice dogwood planted right in the middle of the front yard. It looks great. Plenty of room; at least 20 feet from the house and even further from the road and driveway. The hubby and the munchkin planted it today.

Now I just have to think of another anniversary present :)

Thanks for all your help!!

Dogwood in full sun... Sigh.

Hmm, the OP said that a flowering dogwood would do fine in full sun. Would you care to elaborate or is a sigh all you have to offer? ;)

The OP????
You're the OP (original poster)
You never said where you are but unless you're in the northwest or northeast, a flowering dogwood can be stressed an open full sun location because of heat and drought. As an understory tree in the south, they like a moist, cool shady spot with good drainage. So many problems can result from stressed dogwoods but I'm not even going to go into it so I can get blamed for spoiling your special moment. Enjoy your new anniversary tree.

Sorry, so what's the abbreviation for other poster?

Believe me, you giving me information would not spoil any moment. My hubby already did that by spoiling my anniversary present idea lol!

He just planted it yesterday. If it's really going to shrivel up and die in our front yard, we still have time to move it somewhere else, like the side of the house perhaps. He also planted a red maple yesterday on the side of the house. It will get partial sun there (full sun for half a day or so). Maybe he could swap them out.

There is a saying around the tree forums...
"Right tree in the right place"

Most (but not all) tree enthusiasts are interested in the long term success of the tree. So planting a tree that is suitable for the location is important. Otherwise it just becomes another statistic where the average lifespan of a home landscape tree is something like 7 years.

Dogwoods are so problematic that I don't mess with them to begin with but planting in full sun in rocky compacted middle alabama homesite soil is anything but the right place for this tree. If you can find a location for it in dappled shade to mostly shady but with reasonably good soil and air ciculation you might consider relocating the tree. Otherwise, mulch properly, water regularly and cross your fingers. Keep your eye on it for foliar diseases. Get another tree started in the yard. Something like a faster growing tall shade tree to give the dogwood some companionship and some shade.

Thank you!