Bicycle Mechanics - Building my first bike (Kona Kapu), need some advice.

I have never in my life put a bike together before, though I've owned many. This frame was my Christmas gift there year, and I dearly love it in all its steely, chromed lugged orangeness. (pictures of frame here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/bkf/sets/72157625751384670/)

I have:

The headset (boy, was that hard to find.)
A seatpost (One of those old fluted dura ace posts)

I want to build this up in a functional yet not carbon-y way - I already have a carbon road bike, and I want this to be my pretty, just for me modern-vintage long distance ride.

My ideals:

Campagnolo Athena 11 sp groupset (It's silver, it's got great reviews, I just like it)
Velo orange tall stack stem. Functional and awesome looking. (sadly out of stock.)
Some type of Nitto bar that will fit the stem (there's one in the right dimensions, do not recall the part #)
Probably a Brooks or equivalent seat (I'm not adverse to knockoffs)
Speedplay pedals (I already have the shoes)

No idea on:

Wheels. Wheels seem to be so expensive! And it definitely doesn't seem I can switch my current wheels from the Shimano cassette to the Campy one and just use that easily. It seems Google would suggest that.


Concerns:
The Athena only comes in a compact double. I sort of want a triple for the extreme granny gear, as I live in Florida and fear hills. My boyfriend insists an 11 speed cassette with a compact double will be a-ok, I am somewhat dubious. He's a much stronger rider than I am, and I am not good at gear ratios. Can I even use a triple front with this group? Is there something else I should consider that will better fit my needs?

Brakes. Apparently this frame needs long-reach brakes (47-57mm in adjustment range), I am concerned the Athena brakes will be too short. (40-50 mm) I don't know what a 3mm overlap gives me.


I'm sure these are 'duh' questions, but again, I've never done this and really want it to be amazing and 'just right'. I definitely don't know how to combine parts from different groups and make them all work together, though if I knew it COULD be done, I could get it done (does that make sense?) Mostly I don't want to flail around blindly spending money and have things not work, because I do not have a lot of money to blindly spend, so having a list of 'this is what will work and be purchased' is a goal, before purchasing happens.

Any advice/suggestions would be just amazing.

Thanks!

If you're totally sold on the idea of Athena then they make a 12-27 cassete. And with that sizing it's not that far off a typical 11-28 mountain bike setup. Perhaps going for that cassete would be enough for you to avoid the third ring up front? The Athena line up also has the option of a 34-50 crankset. If you don't need the usual 53T big ring then this may be a further option that would allow you to get up hills without going for a 3 ring front end.

I'm not so much stuck on the Athena as I don't see any other attractive options - Ultegra is aesthetically pleasing, but too rich for my blood, I have 105 on my current bike but am not in love with it, though it does its job. Sram is a little too carboned out for what I'm going for...that left the Athena for an all-silver group for under $1000.

I don't need the biggest of big rings, most of my riding is steady-pace crank out the miles stuff, I rarely do anything approaching a sprint.

I grabbed my Nitto bar, a stem, found a VO leather saddle on sale for $65 (It was half the cost of a similar Brooks, even if it lasts 8 years instead of 20 I think it's a fabulous deal), some fenders, bar tape, etc. At this point I'm thinking of just transferring the 105 over from my carbon frame so I can get to riding.

Is there a carbonless group with a triple option out there somewhere? I don't care about weight, I just want something attractive that will baby me up the hills.