+ another for renting. I rent from a local store in Colorado and if you rent on a Friday, you get the equipment for the entire weekend and only pay for 1 day rental! I love it!
Prices vary, but for the 50mm 1.8 it's 5/day!
Check with some local photogs in your area and see if they know of any store in state that rent out equipment.
Get to know your settings first, even if you buy a big expensive lens, you'll still fubar the images if you have the wrong settings, lighting, etc. I just did my first budiour (sp) session and forgot to change my ISO setting when we moved from a dimly lit area to a well lit area!