Replying to 1st Time Basic Backcountry Setup

I've always limited myself to stray no further than guided sidecountry with a knowledgable friend, but my wife and I are going to open up our options if for nothing less than the life experience and fun of learning. Europe offers more accessible BC than what I grew up with and I'd like to take advantage of such an easy opportunity to learn. I'm going to sign us both up for both an intro to Avy knowledge and an Avy progression course that we'll do amid a normal week of skiing in Chamonix (planning our trip now and I'm stoked!)

-I want to look into getting some of the gear we don't own now so that we can become familiar with it and get more out of the courses when we are there (the courses do provide the gear if you don't have it though). Beacon, shovel, probe are obvious necessities. BCA has some nice looking combos of these 3 items for awesome deals, and I can get them pro deal as well. Does anyone have any particular strong feelings about their stuff that a beginner should know? I'm aware of searching for strong, metal shovels and avoiding frangible ultralight probes but that's about it.

-We both have Dakine Heli Pro packs that we've using for hiking, skiing, etc. over the years. I feel I'll be able to easily fit/store this gear in those, any cautions on that assumption? I am not interested in an Avalung or airbag, and I can't justify it at this point. We are taking a stepping stone approach to this.

-Finally, I've read books over the years out of interest and watched a lot of great Youtube videos. Any tips on material you found particularly enjoyable or easy for noobs to understand? A good website to read about European avy conditions would be sweet to check out as well, some are hard to navigate.

Thanks for any tips!