Remi Barclay Messenger was a founding member of three prominent professional theatre companies in the New York City area – The Performance Group (l967-70, Dionysus in 69), Whole Theatre (1971-1990) and Voices of Earth (1988-2000), the latter two with Olympia Dukakis. Before moving to Australia in 2003, Remi was full-time arts therapist (RDT) in Psychiatry at St. Barnabas Medical Center, New Jersey. Her theatre work included years of acting, directing and teaching as well as creating workshops for a wide spectrum of institutions, schools and universities.  She became a marriage and funeral celebrant working with her husband, Dally.

Dally Messenger III is a writer, speaker and pioneer of the Civil Celebrant movement. He has performed thousands of ceremonies including weddings, funerals and namings. His book Ceremonies and Celebrations, now in its fourth edition, is the classic text for understanding and planning rites of passage. He has also written Murphy’s Law and the Pursuit of Happiness: A History of the Civil Celebrant Movement.

He is the grandson of Rugby League great Dally Messenger and author of The Master, first published history of League in Australia.

From 1979 to 1990 he was founding publisher/editor of Dance Australia – still the most successful independent performing arts magazine in Australia. In 2008, he won the Australian Dance Award for Services to Dance presented at the Melbourne Arts Centre.

In 2000-2002, he was instrumental in beginning civil celebrancy in the United States where he met Remi.  He is currently Principal of the International College of Celebrancy based in Melbourne.