Long-distance relationships stink.

Most people who've tried them will tell you that communicating by phone or e-mail and only seeing a significant other now and then is exceedingly difficult to do. Having the early stages of a relationship broadcast to 11 million people a week probably only adds to the strain.

It's no surprise, then, that Meredith Phillips is looking forward to the finale of "The Bachelorette" on Wednesday (ABC, 9 p.m. ET). In the two-hour finale, viewers will see which of the two remaining suitors -- 28-year-old Texan Matthew or 29-year-old New Yorker Ian -- she chooses.

Phillips gave no clues in a conference call Monday (Feb. 23) as to who she picked, but she did say she's ready to be able to see him face-to-face again. The couple talks on the phone regularly, she says, and they've seen each other "a couple times" since the show wrapped late last year.

"It has been a challenge for me," she says. "It's been hard -- I want to see him."

Fortunately for her and her guy, this "Bachelorette" had a relatively fast turnaround time. "Shortly after we finished taping, it was Christmas, and then New Year's, and then the show started," she says. "So I haven't had to wait as long as the other Bachelors and Bachelorette."

Phillips says she's in love with her guy, but she isn't quite to the picking-out-china stage yet.

"But I'm 30 -- I'm ready for that, and I do hope to have a wedding someday," she says. "When that is, I don't know, but I know now that I am in love and happy that I finally found my companion. I've been searching my whole life for this person, and the fact that I found him on national television -- I think that's pretty great. Pretty unconventional, but pretty great."

If ABC is counting on a "Meredith's Wedding" miniseries, however, they might be a little disappointed. Phillips doesn't seem all that enthusiastic about televising her nuptials the way her "Bachelorette" predecessor, Trista Rehn, was.

"Hmm. That's a lot. That's a lot," she says. "You know, I've always considered a small wedding ... 30 or 40 people somewhere on a beach and really casual."