Published: Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009 / Updated: Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009 07:22 AM

Love bubbles over: Couple ties knot at The Spot

The golden neon sign flickered in front of the plate-glass window, behind the bride. "Open 24 hours" it told passers-by on Rock Hill's Heckle Boulevard near Cherry Road. Next to her left shoulder, above the flowers in her hands, the machine blared, "Soap Stop."

The witnesses folded darks and sorted whites. The best man, Anthony Wright, sat on a chair next to a woman adding fabric softener. Amanda Outlaw, matron of honor, stood near the rolling carts that hold the laundry, ready to take pictures. One of those huge dryers that sounds like a jet on take-off roared to life as the officiant locked up the check-cashing place next door and strode into The Spot launderette carrying a white leather Bible.

Dusk was falling and the spin cycle started in one of those big 50-pound washing machines. Amid the clothes and the people and the smell of bleach, it was time to get married.

The groom is Jerry Rogers.

“Bubba,” he said. “All my life, just about, people called me Bubba.”

Bubba Rogers and his longtime girlfriend, Adrianne Helton, are ready just about any day to have a baby. So they wanted to “do the right thing,” in Bubba's words. But with a baby coming, they couldn't afford spending money on a big wedding.

Bubba's mother, Becky, used to work at The Spot launderette. His grandmother, Betty Rogers, still does.

“Been working here 16 years. Bubba grew up in here, rolling around the carts when he was just a small little fella,” Betty Rogers said. “When he said he wanted to get married, I said to him, ‘Let's do it right here.'”

Adrianne said the couple has talked about getting married for months, and the place didn't matter.

“As long as it is official, as long as it counted as a real marriage, the laundromat was as good a place as any,” she said.

Betty walked next door to the check-cashing place and talked to the manager, her friend Marsha Boyd. A notary public, Boyd has the legal authority to marry people. She agreed not just to marry the couple, but to waive the fee.

“Young people doing the right thing, I was happy to help,” Boyd said.

Betty Rogers went out and got Adrianne a bouquet to hold. The Monday night stage was set.

“I'm a little nervous, this is only my second wedding,” Boyd said.

“I'm not nervous, I worked all day,” Adrianne said.

Bubba claimed not to be nervous, but his shuffling feet suggested he might be.

Boyd stood the couple in front of the neon next to the soap dispenser and the change machine. She talked about a “new life together,” and all that stuff including “until death do us part.” She read a Bible passage from the book of Mark, chapter 10.

The dryer stopped roaring. Somebody dropped a quarter near a washer. The eight people in the place doing laundry stopped folding and washing. All eyes were on the couple.

Betty Rogers, grandmother, suffering from a bit of the arthritis, sat in a chair and wiped away tears. Becky Rogers, the mother of the groom, cried some, too.

And almost on cue, the dryer roared back to life. The neon sign flickered a little. Bubba kissed his bride and made the launderette wedding official.