I highly recommend an UNO for beginners though!
And I echo that, unless the Op has already purchased something at which point I think it is more of a 'roll with what you have' scenario.
The UNO is great if you ever consider purchasing a shield. But, with the 328, I don't hear as much noise these days about shields as I did a couple of years back. After having used the Mini and the Nano on breadboards, I must agree that it is an overall better solution for prototyping (again, if you do not require a shield.)
What I would recommend to the Op is that if you have soldered your pins to your Mini, then spray the pins with a good quality electrical lubricant designed to clean switches (like the old TV tuner cleaner.) Use canned-air to blow the excess onto paper towel. This treatment will make inserting and removing the little board from the breadboard easier... much easier.
Ray