How do I prevent bridges while soldering SMD Components?

When soldering by hand, it is easier and faster to just ignore the bridges while you solder the part and then clean it up.

Just put some desoldering wick on the bridge, heat with your soldering iron (may need a bigger tip or more heat) and the excess solder will happily flow into the wick leaving perfect solder joints.

With practice the cleaning of even large parts just takes a few seconds.

There are three golden rules in hand soldering: 1. Use a lot of flux; 2. Use more flux; 3. Use even more flux.

Rosin-based mildly-activated flux (RMA type) helps a lot.

And, of course, right iron power, clean tinned tip, sharp tip (I prefer), and right iron temperature for the solder you are using.

If you design the PCB by yourself you could make a "solder thief pad" also used in wavesoldering. this extrapad will take all the excess tin.

In addition you should use lot of flux. I would recommend you to try diffrent brands and find the best one for you.

You can also try to use gull wing soldertips. I have one by myself and with the right flux i rarely have to clean up with solder braid. But when i have to, it isn't the end of the world.