First of all welcome to the site. There are plenty of experienced hunters willing to share their experiences with you.
Zimbabwe is an excellent choice for safari. Bringing your non-hunting wife is a great idea. If you are lucky like me she will start hunting after the first trip.
My standard answer to the question of operators is as follows.
Martin Pieters. He is Chairman of the ZPHGA in Zimbabwe. He currently hunts Omay North and Omay South which is a total of 2,000,000 acres of unfenced area along Lake Kariba. There is good fishing on the lake and he runs a first class operation. I hunted with him in 2009 and will do so again this year. He also post on here as Marty
Martin Pieters Safaris :: Omay Zimbabwe Safaris :: Welcome
Buzz Charlton is also very good. I hope to hunt with him in 2012. I only know him from the shows and by reputation but would trust him on any safari.
African Hunting Safaris - Charlton McCallum Safaris
Mokore Safaris is another great outfit. The Duckworth's have been in the business since 1979 and are above reproach. I hunted with them in 2010. Neil Duckworth, his brother Gary, and Father Barrie are as good of people as you will ever find, as is Martin and Buzz.
Mokore Safaris - Big Game Hunting in Zimbabwe and Mozambique
Martin and Buzz answer emails promptly. Mokore because of their location is a little slower. Mark Young books for them stateside. He works with Adam Clements who post on here from time to time. Mark's email is
mark@safaritrackers.com
Here are a couple of my adventures:
http://www.africahunting.com/mozambique-hunting-reports/3824-mozambique-zimbabwe-mokore-safaris.html
http://www.africahunting.com/zimbabwe-hunting-reports/1515-tuskless-buffalo-martin-pieters.html
There are also plenty of other good operators in Zim. HHK, Zambezi Hunters, Roger Whittal, come to mind immediately.
This is also my standard disclaimer. I am not an agent nor receive anything from these guys. I love Zimbabwe and all I want is to see is the Zimbos succeed.