Soft Box or Umbrella?

[jlrichmond76]

I am going to soon be purchasing a couple of Alien Bees B800 strobes for general room lighting and small home studio use. I'll need to light dark rooms for wedding receptions (plan on using Pocket Wizard remotes) without lingering light. The studio stuff is just general portrait work.
The question is, should I use umbrellas or soft box/boxes? Reflective or translucent umbrellas? Should I leave the lights bare for additional reception light?
What's the advantage of having one soft box and an umbrella on the other side? I just don't want to buy something that isn't going to work.
Thanks...

[kevie]

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=385130

this thread does a good job of explaining what you might need and in particular to your question and the one i like is the Studio lighting Part 1 thru 8 video series its a tad on the mono-tone pace but i really think it will answer your question.