[Formerly YB-2]

Don't believe a .410 is the best choice to start with in a shotgun. They have a light weight and light recoil but do not have many pellets so is easy to miss with them, leading to frustration from not being able to break many (any?) clays. A decent 20ga semi-auto like the well regarded Winchester SX3, which will also have a reduced recoil due to its method of operation, would be a better choice. There are other, excellent, semi-auto shotguns (Beretta, Benelli, Browning, etc. are fancier, but not better quality) for more money, but you can always trade up if you find you are shooting enough to want to do so. Same with an O/U. A 20ga O/U is a good choice, but about twice the starting cost for a decent one and may not be the best choice for a beginner as it will have more recoil then the semi-auto. A box of 7/8oz 20ga #7 1/2 or #8 target ammo is ~$6-7 while a box of .410 ammo is about twice that and is not always easy to find. 16ga is about like .410. Ammo can be difficult to find and expensive. If your wife is small in stature, you will want to contact one of the sporting clays venues (as you mentioned, there are several around you) and ask them if they have 20ga rental shotguns with various LOP (length of pull) she can try to see what works. And, book a lesson. A good book to get started is Chris Batha's "Breaking Clays". Does an excellent job of covering the basics.
Enjoy!!