Episode 791: Laura Iarocci of Faith Flowers, on teaching, touring, and designing weddings
October 21st, 2026
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Last month, I partnered with Seattle Growers Market to host a group of flower and garden lovers who had joined Laura Iarocci’s Explore Flower Tours visit to the Pacific Northwest. An Atlanta-based floral designer who specializes in weddings and events, floral design education for church and cathedral flower guilds, and floral-enriched tours in Europe, the U.S., and beyond, Laura is also a Slow Flowers member who highlights local flowers and sustainability in her programming. Since 2011, Explore Flower Tours has been an extension of Laura’s Faith Flowers design school and studio, leading curated tours that include flower workshops with local, leading designers and instructors, flower farm visits, garden tours, flower shows, unique floral events, and more. During my day with the Explore Flower Tours group, we began with staff-led tour of the cooler and displays at Seattle Growers Market. After lunch, the group joined me in a floral design workshop using a bounty of seasonal flowers, foliages, and textures – and together we created a 100% compostable, foam-free centerpiece. The following day, I caught up with Laura to record today’s conversation about her unique business model that combines teaching, touring, and wedding design.
Before Laura Iarocci joined the volunteer flower guild at The Cathedral of St. Philip, the Episcopal cathedral in Atlanta, her relationship with flowers was as simply loved them. Up to that point, she had been a Wall Street banker. A relocation to Atlanta and a search for a creative outlet sparked what has become a fulfilling career and life in flowers.
At the time, when her children were little, Laura loved the quiet joy of arranging behind the scenes, creating florals that commemorated and provided hospitality and fellowship – and making services, funerals, and weddings more beautiful.
She tells the story in her 2018 book, “Faith Flowers,” a guide to arranging church flowers. “There were not so many flower arranging classes then as there are today. A very kind gentleman named Tyler Gresham, whose family had owned a flower shop in Atlanta, took me under his wing when I became the Flower Guild chair. He taught me how to buy flowers, prepare recipes and design in the classic English style. I worked as much as possible with the many other experienced arrangers on the Flower Guild.”
Over time, Laura has taken classes with some of the leading designers and instructors around the world, exposing herself to new ideas and techniques to apply to church design.
She formed Faith Flowers in 2010. Her studio now includes a flower school, flower tours around the world, and floral design for weddings, events, and funerals.
We recently sat down to record the conversation you’ll hear now, the day after I taught a sustainable design workshop for her Pacific Northwest flower and garden tour produced by Laura’s sister business, Explore Flower Tours.
I hope we spark some new ideas for your business, as you think about creating floral design experiences and excursions for your customers and communities. This podcast is committed to shining a light and amplifying the voices of our members, celebrating the many stories of this community, stories as diverse as each of you.
Find and follow Faith Flowers on Instagram and Facebook
Find and follow Explore Flower Tours on Instagram
Thank you to our Sponsors
This show is brought to you by slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to florists, shops, and studios who design with local, seasonal and sustainable flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms. It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers.
And thank you to our lead sponsor, My Patio Tree: Expertly Grown Plants, Perfectly Designed to Elevate Your Garden. Their second-generation family tree farm has curated the best-performing, cutting-edge, multi-zone varieties to enhance your garden, patio or special event. Every tree purchased supports Plant With Purpose, a nonprofit organization that restores hope by reversing global poverty and environmental damage. Learn more at mypatiotree.com.
Our next sponsor thanks goes to Longfield Gardens, which provides home gardeners with high-quality flower bulbs and perennials. Their online store offers plants for every region and every season, from tulips and daffodils to dahlias, caladiums and amaryllis. Check out the full catalog at Longfield Gardens at longfield-gardens.com.
Our final sponsor thanks goes to Rooted Farmers. Rooted Farmers works exclusively with local growers to put the highest-quality specialty cut flowers in floral customers’ hands. When you partner with Rooted Farmers, you are investing in your community, and you can expect a commitment to excellence in return. Learn more at RootedFarmers.com
The Slow Flowers Podcast is a member-supported endeavor, downloaded more than 1.6 million times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much. As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of our domestic cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. If you’re new to our weekly Show and our long-running Podcast, check out all of our resources at SlowFlowersSociety.com.
I’m Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Show & Podcast. The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization. Next week, you’re invited to join me in putting more Slow Flowers on the table, one stem, one vase at a time. Thanks so much for joining us today and I’ll see you next week!
Music credits:
Drone Pine; Gaena; Contrarian
by Blue Dot Session
http://www.sessions.blue
Lovely
by Tryad
http://tryad.bandcamp.com/album/instrumentals
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
In The Field
audionautix.com