Sparkfun just posted some really neat and vaguely instructional videos of assembling one of their surface-mount kits using only a large soldering iron and solder-wick here.
This technique is crucial if you don’t have access to proper surface-mount equipment! I don’t think they mention it, but it’s also good to continuity check tightly-packed pins for solder shorts that have formed out of sight (under the chip) before powering up a board like that for the first time.
-Adam