FOLDED INTO THE VERDANT HILLS OF THE SUSSEX COUNTY SKYLANDS, THIS SCENIC GOLF CLUB DOUBLES AS ONE OF THE STATE’S FINEST WEDDING VENUES BY ERIK SCHONING PHOTOS

BY ALEX BARRETO

SkyView Golf Club is nestled among rich, rolling hills and dramatic rock cliffs in the heart of the Sussex County skylands. In addition to its breathtaking course, SkyView offers one of the state’s premier wedding destinations, the vision of husband-and wife duo Rafael Payano and Michelle Flores Payano.

The Payanos first joined the SkyView operation in 2009, after Michelle’s father purchased the course in 2007. (The Payanos met while working front of house at the Knoll Country Club in Parsipanny, another one of Michelle’s father’s businesses.) Despite their budding careers Rafael in the automotive business and Michelle as a cytopathologist the couple had the hospitality business in their blood, and when SkyView needed some help getting off the ground, they found an opportunity to build the business from the ground up.

“The business was struggling a bit, and that’s when Michelle and I got involved,” Rafael Payano said. “In the beginning, it was your typical grind: 16-hour days, seven a days a week. You take every phone call, every email. Every tour and event was basically her and I.”

T heir plan was simple: incorporate a top-of-the-line wedding business to complement SkyView’s semi-private golf course. Through trial and error and drawing on their years of experience in the wedding industry, the Payanos were able to build out a robust wedding package that, today, is one of SkyView’s primary calling cards. Fitting to its name, the course once lauded by PubLinks Golfer Magazine as “New Jersey’s Most Scenic Golf Course” is now one of its most scenic wedding destinations, too.

Today the Payanos, who started out doing small events like bridal showers and birthday parties, log more than 130 weddings per year at SkyView. The secret to their success is an iterative process that is constantly evolving: since 2009, the Payanos have overseen the construction of a new cocktail room, the installation of hardwood flooring, and most recently, the renovation of an on-site log cabin that serves as a rentable groom’s suite. They’ve also perfected a streamlined planning process that combines the care and attention of a small venue with the convenience of a larger operation.

“The process here is very straightforward,” Payano said. “From the moment we sit down with the couple for the first time, we let them know that we aren’t the type of venue where you rent the hall but then you have to go out and rent chairs or linens yourself. We try to make sure that even the brochures are easy to read and understand. To this day, I look at some menus and I’m confused as to what’s included with the rental. So I try to avoid that by making sure all our info is simple and straight forward.”

One challenge with running a wedding venue is staying abreast of current trends. Weddings are constantly evolving as people’s tastes change; on the culinary side, for example, Payano remembers the weddings of yesteryear, replete with ice luges and caviar. Today’s couples, however, are more likely to opt for taco stations and late-night breakfast sandwich service. Throughout the years, he and Michelle have worked closely with couples to listen to what they want, rather than pushing a fixed package. This willingness to listen and adapt has been a key factor in their success.

“Every year you set your new goals, and slowly but surely, once you reach a new goal you set another one,” Payano said. “I always like to keep moving forward and discover new trends, then see how we can interpret them and do something special. I’m so very happy with our progress.”

The progress has been so substantial that the Payanos are now able to rely on their wedding team Jenn Ruchalski and Hildegard Power to run the day-to-day of the wedding business. This has freed Rafael up to dedicate more time to the golf side of the business, which can be notoriously demanding. Ever since taking over in 2009, it’s not unusual for Rafael to spend an evening on the course grinding a stump or running an excavator. As a semi-public course, SkyView has a small member base and a thriving public play business. The course itself is unique, shorter than a typical course but with narrow fairways and sharp changes in topography that make for a challenging and exciting outing. With the wedding business thriving, Payano is reinvesting heavily in golf, with a planned expansion that will include indoor simulators to keep golfers happy in the colder months. The idea is that more golfers will boost the wedding business, and more weddings means more people will visit the course and become interested in golfing it.

Despite their vast success, the Payanos don’t believe in a finish line. As they continue to grow the business, their latest project is the renovation of an old Victorian house on the property, which will soon become an eight-bedroom mansion that will serve as an upgraded bridal suite and the perfect accommodation for wedding parties, who until now needed to find lodging at the nearest hotel. The Payanos are even purchasing a local bed-and-breakfast; both projects will boost SkyView’s viability for out-of-town guests by streamlining the booking process even further. As anyone who’s ever planned a wedding can attest, the more items taken off your to-do list, the better. For the Payanos, who started their relationship working in a restaurant, hospitality has become a way of life, a kind of philosophy that underpins everything that SkyView does.

“We’re family owned and operated, so we take everything that much more seriously,” Payano said. “Because it’s not only my livelihood or Michelle’s. We have 50 employees at the height of the season, between the grounds crew and the golf, wedding, and kitchen staffs. I take my job seriously. When you do a bad job, word will get out. But when you do a good job, word also gets out.”

Thankfully for the Payanos, word has indeed gotten out.

SkyView Golf Club

226 Lafayette Road, Sparta

973.726.4653 / skyviewgolf.com