Angel,
First a disclaimer! I'm not a professional wedding photographer. I do artistic photography that goes into editorial pages, brochures, banners , magazine advertisements and the like. Still, I have photographed weddings and can address some of the issues in common. Wedding photographers, hopefully might fill the gaps and add more cogent advice.
Paul Buff's gear are legendary for value and for being overrated in efficiency. His 1600 W.S. might be actually no more than 800 W.S. or so. Check the fine print. The rating is based on what it's believed the companies lights are "as good as" compared to other industry options. It also depends on the light modifier you are using. The most avid user of Paul Buff's gear is likely to be Rob Galbraith of robgalbraith.com and he's always reviewing their gear. Simply put, it should be able to cure cancer and if directed against the Taliban, they's give up and ask for surrender and mercy.
Joking apart, White Lightening has a lot of good options. Notice that for Rob's work in shooting a sports team, he'll have 3 White Lightening flashes on stands covering the group from a distance of perhaps 40 ft, if my memory is right. They have new parabolic reflectors which Rob again loves and seem well worth looking into. He uses very up to date suitcase battery power sources to power the Lights, so they are essentially, battery powered. Rob is a serious, experienced and careful photographer and meticulous about gear. So there can be no better friend for a company and Paul Buff seems to have earned the highest praise one can get. In any case, the articles are really worth reading. He does generally give distances in his setups so these should be helpful in case you plan to add to your White Lightening collection and reproduce his team photography setups.
Will Thompson, here, uses Norman Flashes and has many of them. He can just bring out whatever number he needs. They are much more lightweight and all battery powered and the battery, itself, stabilizes the light stand, whereas the White Lightening is top heavy, a consideration in the wind.
I personally use Lumedyne battery powered flash. They go beyond the power and versatility range of Norman. Mine are used for photographing the theatre and concert stages. I have each pack set to merely 200-400 WS but use Quantum telephoto reflectors and then the efficiency is increased and it throws further and I gain 1 to 1.5 stops! With 3 such lights separated by 3 feet, the outside ones angled outwards slightly, I can cover that entire wedding party and fire the flash every 0.5-1second using a rapid recycle module for each power pack. You can have other flash packs set up where you go next and an assistant can so that for you can go to the next setup without delay. Will gave me a useful hint. Have each set of lights on a different channel of a pocket wizard and just change the channel as you get to the next station. For closer shots, I'd have two shoot though umbrellas ready.
The thing about Norman and Lumedyne is that they are around for 30 years and inexpensive on the used market. Gradually, I have updated with new gear, but all of mine gets sent to Lumedyne every few years for total rehabilitation and bringing up to specifications. For norman, Will Thompson is the best guy to ask for advice. For White Lightening, you need go further than Rob's articles. Either route you will be very happy. Just have x3 more light than you think you'll need.
Asher
