diff --git a/.github/workflows/hedwig.yml b/.github/workflows/hedwig.yml
index 0bbb7c0..16f59b7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/hedwig.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/hedwig.yml
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        rust_toolchain: [nightly, stable, 1.53.0]
+        rust_toolchain: [nightly, stable, 1.60.0]
         os: [ubuntu-latest]
     timeout-minutes: 20
     steps:
diff --git a/src/consumer.rs b/src/consumer.rs
index 575946d..74b15a5 100644
--- a/src/consumer.rs
+++ b/src/consumer.rs
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@
 //!
 //! See the [`Consumer`] trait.
 
-use crate::ValidatedMessage;
+use crate::message::ValidatedMessage;
 use async_trait::async_trait;
+use bytes::Bytes;
 use either::Either;
 use futures_util::stream;
 use pin_project::pin_project;
@@ -53,7 +54,7 @@ pub trait Consumer {
     type Error;
     /// The stream returned by [`stream`]
     type Stream: stream::Stream<
-        Item = Result<AcknowledgeableMessage<Self::AckToken, ValidatedMessage>, Self::Error>,
+        Item = Result<AcknowledgeableMessage<Self::AckToken, ValidatedMessage<Bytes>>, Self::Error>,
     >;
 
     /// Begin pulling messages from the backing message service.
@@ -86,11 +87,37 @@ pub trait DecodableMessage {
     type Decoder;
 
     /// Decode the given message, using the given decoder, into its structured type
-    fn decode(msg: ValidatedMessage, decoder: &Self::Decoder) -> Result<Self, Self::Error>
+    fn decode(msg: ValidatedMessage<Bytes>, decoder: &Self::Decoder) -> Result<Self, Self::Error>
     where
         Self: Sized;
 }
 
+impl<M> DecodableMessage for ValidatedMessage<M>
+where
+    M: DecodableMessage,
+{
+    /// The error returned when a message fails to decode
+    type Error = M::Error;
+
+    /// The decoder used to decode a validated message
+    type Decoder = M::Decoder;
+
+    /// Decode the given message, using the given decoder, into its structured type
+    fn decode(msg: ValidatedMessage<Bytes>, decoder: &Self::Decoder) -> Result<Self, Self::Error>
+    where
+        Self: Sized,
+    {
+        let message = M::decode(msg.clone(), decoder)?;
+        Ok(Self {
+            id: msg.id,
+            timestamp: msg.timestamp,
+            schema: msg.schema,
+            headers: msg.headers,
+            data: message,
+        })
+    }
+}
+
 /// A received message which can be acknowledged to prevent re-delivery by the backing message
 /// service.
 ///
@@ -186,7 +213,7 @@ pub struct MessageStream<S, D, M> {
 impl<S, D, M, AckToken, StreamError> stream::Stream for MessageStream<S, D, M>
 where
     S: stream::Stream<
-        Item = Result<AcknowledgeableMessage<AckToken, ValidatedMessage>, StreamError>,
+        Item = Result<AcknowledgeableMessage<AckToken, ValidatedMessage<Bytes>>, StreamError>,
     >,
     M: DecodableMessage<Decoder = D>,
 {
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index f5bd990..0aa5a93 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -75,14 +75,14 @@
 //! ```
 #![cfg_attr(docsrs, feature(doc_cfg))]
 
-use std::{borrow::Cow, collections::BTreeMap, time::SystemTime};
 pub use topic::Topic;
 
 use bytes::Bytes;
-use uuid::Uuid;
+use std::collections::BTreeMap;
 
 mod backends;
 mod consumer;
+pub mod message;
 mod publisher;
 mod tests;
 mod topic;
@@ -117,81 +117,4 @@ pub enum Error {
 pub type Headers = BTreeMap<String, String>;
 
 /// A validated message.
-///
-/// These are created by validators after encoding a user message, or when pulling messages from
-/// the message service.
-#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
-// derive Eq only in tests so that users can't foot-shoot an expensive == over data
-#[cfg_attr(test, derive(PartialEq, Eq))]
-pub struct ValidatedMessage {
-    /// Unique message identifier.
-    id: Uuid,
-    /// The timestamp when message was created in the publishing service.
-    timestamp: SystemTime,
-    /// URI of the schema validating this message.
-    ///
-    /// E.g. `https://hedwig.domain.xyz/schemas#/schemas/user.created/1.0`
-    schema: Cow<'static, str>,
-    /// Custom message headers.
-    ///
-    /// This may be used to track request_id, for example.
-    headers: Headers,
-    /// The encoded message data.
-    data: Bytes,
-}
-
-impl ValidatedMessage {
-    /// Create a new validated message
-    pub fn new<S, D>(id: Uuid, timestamp: SystemTime, schema: S, headers: Headers, data: D) -> Self
-    where
-        S: Into<Cow<'static, str>>,
-        D: Into<Bytes>,
-    {
-        Self {
-            id,
-            timestamp,
-            schema: schema.into(),
-            headers,
-            data: data.into(),
-        }
-    }
-
-    /// Unique message identifier.
-    pub fn uuid(&self) -> &Uuid {
-        &self.id
-    }
-
-    /// The timestamp when message was created in the publishing service.
-    pub fn timestamp(&self) -> &SystemTime {
-        &self.timestamp
-    }
-
-    /// URI of the schema validating this message.
-    ///
-    /// E.g. `https://hedwig.domain.xyz/schemas#/schemas/user.created/1.0`
-    pub fn schema(&self) -> &str {
-        &self.schema
-    }
-
-    /// Custom message headers.
-    ///
-    /// This may be used to track request_id, for example.
-    pub fn headers(&self) -> &Headers {
-        &self.headers
-    }
-
-    /// Mutable access to the message headers
-    pub fn headers_mut(&mut self) -> &mut Headers {
-        &mut self.headers
-    }
-
-    /// The encoded message data.
-    pub fn data(&self) -> &[u8] {
-        &self.data
-    }
-
-    /// Destructure this message into just the contained data
-    pub fn into_data(self) -> Bytes {
-        self.data
-    }
-}
+pub type ValidatedMessage = message::ValidatedMessage<Bytes>;
diff --git a/src/message.rs b/src/message.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..332a874
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/message.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+use bytes::Bytes;
+use std::{borrow::Cow, time::SystemTime};
+use uuid::Uuid;
+
+use crate::Headers;
+
+/// A validated message.
+///
+/// These are created by validators after encoding a user message, or when pulling messages from
+/// the message service.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
+// derive Eq only in tests so that users can't foot-shoot an expensive == over data
+#[cfg_attr(test, derive(PartialEq, Eq))]
+pub struct ValidatedMessage<M> {
+    /// Unique message identifier.
+    pub(crate) id: Uuid,
+    /// The timestamp when message was created in the publishing service.
+    pub(crate) timestamp: SystemTime,
+    /// URI of the schema validating this message.
+    ///
+    /// E.g. `https://hedwig.domain.xyz/schemas#/schemas/user.created/1.0`
+    pub(crate) schema: Cow<'static, str>,
+    /// Custom message headers.
+    ///
+    /// This may be used to track request_id, for example.
+    pub(crate) headers: Headers,
+    /// The message data.
+    pub(crate) data: M,
+}
+
+impl ValidatedMessage<Bytes> {
+    /// Create a new validated message
+    pub fn new<S, D>(id: Uuid, timestamp: SystemTime, schema: S, headers: Headers, data: D) -> Self
+    where
+        S: Into<Cow<'static, str>>,
+        D: Into<Bytes>,
+    {
+        Self {
+            id,
+            timestamp,
+            schema: schema.into(),
+            headers,
+            data: data.into(),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl<M> ValidatedMessage<M> {
+    /// Unique message identifier.
+    pub fn uuid(&self) -> &Uuid {
+        &self.id
+    }
+
+    /// The timestamp when message was created in the publishing service.
+    pub fn timestamp(&self) -> &SystemTime {
+        &self.timestamp
+    }
+
+    /// URI of the schema validating this message.
+    ///
+    /// E.g. `https://hedwig.domain.xyz/schemas#/schemas/user.created/1.0`
+    pub fn schema(&self) -> &str {
+        &self.schema
+    }
+
+    /// Custom message headers.
+    ///
+    /// This may be used to track request_id, for example.
+    pub fn headers(&self) -> &Headers {
+        &self.headers
+    }
+
+    /// Mutable access to the message headers
+    pub fn headers_mut(&mut self) -> &mut Headers {
+        &mut self.headers
+    }
+
+    /// The message data.
+    pub fn data(&self) -> &M {
+        &self.data
+    }
+
+    /// Destructure this message into just the contained data
+    pub fn into_data(self) -> M {
+        self.data
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/tests/google.rs b/src/tests/google.rs
index 444ff84..e00c8f3 100644
--- a/src/tests/google.rs
+++ b/src/tests/google.rs
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ use crate::{
         AuthFlow, ClientBuilder, ClientBuilderConfig, PubSubConfig, PubSubError, PublishError,
         StreamSubscriptionConfig, SubscriptionConfig, SubscriptionName, TopicConfig, TopicName,
     },
+    message,
     validators::{
         prost::{ExactSchemaMatcher, SchemaMismatchError},
         ProstDecodeError, ProstDecoder, ProstValidator, ProstValidatorError,
@@ -42,7 +43,7 @@ impl EncodableMessage for TestMessage {
             uuid::Uuid::nil(),
             std::time::SystemTime::UNIX_EPOCH,
             SCHEMA,
-            Headers::default(),
+            Headers::from([(String::from("key"), String::from("value"))]),
             self,
         )
     }
@@ -57,6 +58,26 @@ impl DecodableMessage for TestMessage {
     }
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn decode_with_headers() -> Result<(), BoxError> {
+    let orig_message = TestMessage {
+        payload: "foobar".into(),
+    };
+
+    let encoded = orig_message.encode(&ProstValidator::new())?;
+
+    let decoded = message::ValidatedMessage::<TestMessage>::decode(
+        encoded,
+        &ProstDecoder::new(ExactSchemaMatcher::new(SCHEMA)),
+    )?;
+
+    let headers = Headers::from([(String::from("key"), String::from("value"))]);
+
+    assert_eq!(decoded.headers(), &headers);
+
+    Ok(())
+}
+
 #[tokio::test]
 #[ignore = "pubsub emulator is finicky, run this test manually"]
 async fn roundtrip_protobuf() -> Result<(), BoxError> {