When Sisterhood Turns a Vineyard Red

22 Shades of Red

Norwood Vineyard Archive
Saturday, September 13, 2025

When Zakkiya reached out to me back in April, she had never set foot at Norwood’s Vineyard. She had only seen photos. But she had celebrated at L’Eau Hill before, and when her Delta Sigma Theta chapter’s 22nd anniversary approached, she knew she wanted this one to unfold with us. Two weeks later, a contract was signed sight unseen.

There’s always a little nervousness when someone trusts you that deeply. Months pass, the date gets closer, and you hope what they’ve imagined matches what you can deliver. But when she and her committee finally came to see the vineyard just two weeks before their anniversary, they loved it. That’s when the details started to take shape: the flow, the feel, and most importantly, what mattered to them.

They told me they didn’t want a banquet or a program. They wanted a day of sisterhood. Beautiful, yes, but easy. A space that would hold dancing, mingling, and conversation. A space where they could be together.

On the day of the celebration, guests were greeted not by the path but by Sarah’s Orchard. We had set the tables in red and white, with a striking red backdrop at the top of the vineyard for photos and keepsakes. In the orchard, cocktails were poured, hors d’oeuvres passed. Guests moved easily from table to table, catching up, laughing, hugging after years apart.

The pavilion became their second home for the night. They had chosen to splurge on the experience—an open bar, a gourmet dinner with prime rib, salmon, chicken. They decorated the space themselves that morning, a labor of love layered onto the land. And when dinner ended, the music took over. The DJ carried them through line dances and familiar songs until the night closed at nine, and the vineyard was alive with movement, joy, and every shade of red.

I stood with my team in the vineyard, watching. There are moments when you remember why you do this work. This was one of them. To witness women celebrating 22 years of sisterhood, to see how the space held them, to feel the trust that carried us here from L’Eau Hill to the vineyard and it was the best kind of reminder.

Hospitality isn’t only about tables, layouts, or timing. It’s about trust, and it’s about journeying with people through their milestones. When clients choose you again and again, it becomes a kind of family. You learn who they are, what matters to them, and they learn to trust what you see. That night was a celebration of their bond, but for me, it was also a celebration of what’s possible when people trust you with their moments.

It was the perfect way to close the summer at Norwood’s Vineyard: under the pavilion, in the vineyard, surrounded by music, laughter, and the beauty of a sisterhood that has lasted 22 years and counting.