Wedding DJ at Farmstead Golf & Country Club in Lafayette Township, NJ

The Space

Upstairs in a barn raised in 1839, the Carriage Room at Farmstead sits above what was once a working dairy farm. Byron Phoebus and his family bought the 275 acre property from the Lydecker family in 1961 and built a 27 hole golf course around it in three stages, finishing with the last nine holes in 1979. The Phoebus and Lydecker families were joined by marriage in 1974, and the same family still runs the club today, golf course and barn both.

The grounds run to 275 acres and include a 20 acre pond, with a gazebo set on the water used for ceremonies. The course opened in three sections, Clubview in 1963 for a dollar fifty a round, Lakeview in 1965, and Valleyview in 1979, and it has been voted the New Jersey Herald’s readers’ choice for best golf course eight years running. For a couple touring the property, the setting reads as farmland turned fairway, open sky, long sightlines to the pond, and a converted barn at the center of it.

Capacity & Layout

The Carriage Room seats up to 160 guests, which sets the ceiling for a full sit-down reception with a dance floor worked in. It looks out over the golf course through panoramic windows, so the room reads bright and open even at capacity, and there is space to lay out a head table, guest tables and a dance floor without the room feeling packed to the walls.

The newly restored Coach Room seats up to 50 and suits a smaller wedding or a cocktail hour ahead of the main event. Farmstead sets a minimum of 75 guests for any booking, allows 5 hours of event time, and asks that music end by midnight. Couples who want an outdoor ceremony pay a $500 setup fee that adds an extra hour to the day, and the venue provides a day-of coordinator alongside the wedding coordinator it requires every couple to hire.

Amenities

Farmstead handles food and beverage in-house, so catering and the full-service bar both come from the venue rather than an outside vendor, which trims one line off the planning list. The 28th Hole Restaurant, open to the public for lunch and dinner, shares the property, and a bride’s dressing area is set aside for getting ready before the ceremony begins.

A large parking lot with wheelchair accessible spaces sits close to the clubhouse, useful for guests coming straight from work or from out of town. The course’s run of readers’ choice awards from the New Jersey Herald points to a property that locals already know and trust, which for many couples matters as much as the room itself when picking a venue their families can find easily.

Location & Getting There

Farmstead sits in Sussex County, on 275 acres of former dairy farmland converted to golf, with the lake and its gazebo visible from much of the grounds. Guests arrive to open country views rather than a town center, and the drive itself, past the fairways and the pond, sets the tone before the ceremony starts.

Inside, the Carriage Room’s position upstairs in the old barn means a DJ works under the original high timber framing, with hard floors and window walls that carry sound cleanly across the room without the flat deadness of a plain banquet hall, while the smaller Coach Room downstairs takes a lighter setup for cocktail hour or a more intimate reception.