Turkeys Make Way For Wedding Gowns

Why did the turkey cross the road?

If Mel and Ide Ehigiato were telling the joke, the punchline would end with wedding gowns.

The Ehigiatos own Bridal Trousseau, a wedding gown salon and New Haven’s black-owned example of the attire of love. But their venture to be entrepreneurs started with a very different product: turkeys. The fried kind. 

“We started out at 82 Crown St. with a company called ​‘Inspired Turkey,” Mel Ehigiato said on the latest #ForTheCulture edition month on WNHH FM’s ​“Werk It Out” program with Mercy Quaye which focused on the attire of love in honor of Valentine’s Day.

“We were going to bring fried turkey to the masses of the northeast because the south has fried turkey and it’s wonderful,” she said. (Read about that business here.)

Despite that vision, USDA regulations and an unscalable model forced them to remain local and stick to catering and hosting events, which would soon prove to be insufficient for the couple. After hosting a birthday party at the Crown Street location, Ide Ehigiato had an idea.

“One day my husband came home at like three in the morning and said, ​‘We help people celebrate. We should sell wedding dresses,” Mel Ehigiato said.

From that conversation, the couple stumbled onto opportunity when they took a meeting with the former owners of Bridal Trousseau, who were poised to sell the business and advise the new owners.

“One of the things I loved about Bridal Trousseau was the level of service they established. The level of excellence they established in the business was something that we were excited to take on,” she said. ​“They prided themselves in excellent customer service, they’re a local company, they work with quality [designers], and those were things that we [both] were really excited about.”

Once they acquired the business, the Ehigiatos knew they wanted to move the salon to New Haven for community, accessibility, and culture.

“Some of the feedback that we’ve gotten from some of our brides is that it’s a lovely town,” she said. ​“Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island even, all those places have bridal bridal salons, but we’ve had brides from all of these places.

The Ehigiatos recently consolidated the flagship salon on Audubon Street with the sample shop on Crown, because as Mel Ehigiato said, adaptability kind of comes with the gig. Inspired Turkey has now inspired a bridal shop in the Ninth Square.

“One of the things being an entrepreneur teaches you if you’re willing to learn is that you need to be flexible,” she said. ​“There are certain things that are fixed, then there are times when you just need to adapt.”

Three years into it, Mel Ehigiato knows the bridal industry like the back of her hand. She admits there may have been a short learning curve, but now designers and dress styles flow in conversation with ease.

Operating a black and woman-owned and business, Mel Ehigiato said, she knows Bridal Trousseau is meaningful in New Haven.

“I think there is an element of importance to that because there is a significant black population in New Haven,” she said. ​“And I also think that people need to be able to see themselves in different roles and be able to associate with them.”

In addition to being an example to young black girls in the community, some of whom have come in and asked for internships, Mel Ehigiato said being a woman in this role means she can put her own touch on bridal imaging for women.

“I look at some of the images out there, I look at some of the things that we think are acceptable for women, or not acceptable for women and I think to myself, ​‘How do I fit in with that?’” she said. ​“How am I helping with that? Am I giving someone some courage?”

That commitment to empowering and encouraging women is part of the reason the Ehigiatos offer gowns in a wide range of sizes and price points.

“There was a time [in the bridal industry] when you didn’t have choices in the sizes you could bring in,” she said. ​“We are working to expand our full-size collection. We call it ​‘Bridal Trousseau for Everybody’ so that ladies who are fuller figured can come and feel more comfortable.”

Mel Ehigiato said Bridal Trousseau’s service and values have forced her out of being a stay-at-home mom with a background in science, into being an entrepreneur with a commitment to excellence and community. 

Click on or download the above audio file or the Facebook Live video below to hear the full episode of ​“Werk It Out” on WNHH FM.