Help me include my mom!

The big thing for my mom was my dress. She lives 3000 miles away so this is what I did:

I went dress shopping alone and narrowed it down to 4 dresses - 2 at two different stores. She flew out for a weekend and I took her with me to the stores, let her pick out some, and tried on the ones I already picked. I knew which one I wanted before she came out, but it was nice to have her there. Also, it helped that she agreed.

Also, I let her pick out the personal stuff I had with me - my purse, hankie, etc.

My mom & my MOH are both in my hometown. I took the opportunity on a long weekend visit to go dress shopping with them. Keep in mind I come from a VERY small town & there are not many options. I figured that I wouldn't find anything but I wanted to have the experience of going with them! It turned out I did find my dress!! And I got to share that with them!

I am in the same situation...in CA, mom in ID and wedding in Mexico. So...my mom who used to get on the internet 1-2x per week, now gets on daily (sometimes for hours if we are working on something). She is having me ship items directly to her instead of to me adn she is offering to do the DIY (paste my invitations together, sew my linens). I send her everythign I am thinking of via email (whether it is wording for invites, flower ideas, asking for help of where to find something...she does the internet legwork now). It has worked out very well. We can video cam to discuss things (and show her so it looks 3d) and keep the phone bill down.

I did fly her out here for final dress decisions (and she wasn't upset I went before she got here to do some legwork). She is also going to drive down during my site visit (yes, all the way from Idaho to Cabo, stoppig in OC to pick up my items needing to go down like welcome bags and such) in December so I dont' have to fly with them. WOW! Talk about a mom's love....even though she is not here, she is a HUGE part of my planning and it has brought us closer since she moved out there 2 years ago.

So, Suggestions:

lots of emails, IM's, and pics back and forth

video cam to chat

send her things to help put it together

Good Luck!