diff --git a/tailbone/views/messages.py b/tailbone/views/messages.py
index 2b3d556d..28461fed 100644
--- a/tailbone/views/messages.py
+++ b/tailbone/views/messages.py
@@ -176,24 +176,28 @@ class MessagesView(MasterView):
                       .outerjoin(model.MessageRecipient)\
                       .filter(model.MessageRecipient.recipient == self.request.user)
 
-    def configure_grid(self, g):
-
+    def _preconfigure_grid(self, g):
         g.joiners['sender'] = lambda q: q.join(model.User, model.User.uuid == model.Message.sender_uuid).outerjoin(model.Person)
         g.filters['sender'] = g.make_filter('sender', model.Person.display_name,
                                             default_active=True, default_verb='contains')
         g.sorters['sender'] = g.make_sorter(model.Person.display_name)
+        g.sender.set(label="From", renderer=SenderFieldRenderer)
 
         g.filters['subject'].default_active = True
         g.filters['subject'].default_verb = 'contains'
+        g.subject.set(renderer=SubjectFieldRenderer)
+
+        g.recipients.set(label="To", renderer=TerseRecipientsFieldRenderer)
 
         g.default_sortkey = 'sent'
         g.default_sortdir = 'desc'
 
+    def configure_grid(self, g):
         g.configure(
             include=[
-                g.subject.with_renderer(SubjectFieldRenderer),
-                g.sender.with_renderer(SenderFieldRenderer).label("From"),
-                g.recipients.with_renderer(TerseRecipientsFieldRenderer).label("To"),
+                g.subject,
+                g.sender,
+                g.recipients,
                 g.sent,
             ],
             readonly=True)
@@ -476,9 +480,14 @@ class SentView(MessagesView):
         return session.query(model.Message)\
                       .filter(model.Message.sender == self.request.user)
 
-    def configure_grid(self, g):
-        super(SentView, self).configure_grid(g)
+    def _preconfigure_grid(self, g):
+        super(SentView, self)._preconfigure_grid(g)
         g.filters['sender'].default_active = False
+        g.joiners['recipients'] = lambda q: q.join(model.MessageRecipient)\
+                                             .join(model.User, model.User.uuid == model.MessageRecipient.recipient_uuid)\
+                                             .join(model.Person)
+        g.filters['recipients'] = g.make_filter('recipients', model.Person.display_name,
+                                                default_active=True, default_verb='contains')
 
 
 def includeme(config):