Photographers - Please HELP!!

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I have to buy another set of lights for our upcoming wedding/prom season. I HATE shopping for lights! OK, I love shopping for lights, I just hate the nausia inducing head spinning associated with it! Here is my dilemma: When my wife and I first set up our studio in our home, we started with a super cheap beginner's lighting set up. I will be honest here, those lights have lasted us FAR longer than they should have, and I can't really complain about them much. But I know that we just got really lucky with the set we got, and I am afraid to push my luck with another set. We are ready to "upgrade" to some nicer ones. Mostly, they will be used in a studio setting, but they will travel for weddings and events such as proms and formal dances, etc. They need to be strong enough for large group shots taken at weddings (sometimes up to 30 or 40 people) but easy enough and sturdy enough to lug around when we travel to these events. Until I was reading a discussion on another site, I had kind of limited myself to either setting up some sort of "strobist" system with speedlights, OR a mono light kit. But someone in the discussion pointed out the possibility of using a generator pack powered strobe kit, and I would like to see if anyone here has any experience using such a system. Of course, my budget doesn't allow me to buy what I would really like, that would be too easy!! If I went with a power pack setup, I would most likely be looking for used stuff. Anyone with any experience that could help me with this would be much appreciated!! I look forward to hearing what my fellow mylotters have to say!!