Delica Bridal House Ltd

When Ashley and Nicole McNeill were growing up, they knew they would end up working together somehow. “We grew up in an entrepreneurial family,” says Nicole. “We knew we wanted to do something together, whether that would be open up a business or something else.”

After high school, Ashley went off to business school at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology while Nicole received her education in clothing and textiles.

While Ashley was preparing to get married in 2009, she found Edmonton’s bridal stores lacked originality, so she proposed to Nicole a business deal she couldn’t refuse. “She came to me with the idea of opening a bridal store,” recalls Nicole. “It made sense. We were a perfect combination. She had the business background and I had the fashion and textile background.” In 2011, the sisters opened Delica Bridal.

In searching out a location for their new business venture, they saw a rapid growth happening in the city's south end and took notice of the lack of retail stores there. “The demographic was young families and young couples so we wanted to move to the south side,” says Nicole. “Also, there was nothing that far south. We were the only bridal store.”