I would recommend buying as large a tank as you can afford to buy and fill. I recommend this for two reasons. Frist, a larger tank is easier to deal with and will be less sensitive to slight changes in water chemistry than a smaller tank, and two, you will want a larger tank no matter what size you get. If you buy as big as you can and still fill it, then you at least know what your limit is.
A good place to start is your local fish store (LFS). You will pay a higher proce than if you buy your setup online, but shopping lcoal has two advantages: you can see what you are buying, and you then have someone you can talk to if you have a problem. As a former fish guy, I hated it when someone would start a question with "I bought this online and I was hoping you could help me with it." That being said, get all your dry goods (food, medication, etc.) online or wherever you can get it cheap. No point in paying higher prioces for something like that.
Get your fish local because you can look at them. If the store quarantines their fish before they sell them than buy from that store. I also recommend having at least a ten gallon tank that you can set up in a hurry as both a quarantine tank and a hospital tank so you can reduce the medications you are using and use a wider variety of medications (copper sulfate is great for ich, but it will kill all your corals) as well as not having to treat fish that dont need treatment.
As far as supplies, here is a basic list for any setup that I would put together for a customer:
I am assuming that you are going to get a large tank (in excess of 60 gallons)
Power compact lights at least 3-5 watts per gallon
Metal halide lights if you want to grow hard corals or have a particularly deep tank.
A heater 3-5 watts per gallon
A sump
A good protein skimmer (euroreef is very good, but you will pay alot for a name. Unless you are already spending an ungodly amount of money on your tank, get a decent midrange skimmer. Your LFS can help with that.
1.5-2 pounds of live rock per gallon of your tank. get base (meaning cheap) rock for the base of your reef, make the primary amount of rock midrange priced, and then finish it off with some really nice pieces.
A 2 inch sand bed mixed with crushed coral.
Your LFS will help with the rest of the details.
All that being said, you said that you were willing to spend about 1500 max. I hope that this is for the initial setup, because you will not be able to get a whole lot of tank for that. I recommend seting up a long term budget for your tank with the idea that you will not be able to fill it and put in fish and have it finished in one day. Consider your tank to be a work of art that takes a long time to finish. Remember that you are buying a piece of furniture that you have to feed. Do not settle for something only because it is cheap. If that is your only reason, then you will be disappointed with the results. You get what you pay for, but there are areas you can cut back.
By the way, GARF sucks. If you want the stuff get your LFS to sell you some crumbs out of their live rock vats (they may just give it to you) and build a refugium for it. GARF is not worth the money.