Her sister Marie-Caroline married with the king of Naples a few years before Marie-Antoinette went to France. Indeed, one of their big sisters died and MC had to replace her. As for Marie-Elisabeth, she was disfigured by illness and was considered unmarriable, finally.
The first talks for a marriage between a dauphin (French heir to the French throne) and an archduchess must have started about 1764.
This marriage was seen as an extension of the alliance between France and Austria. Indeed, some years before everything was concluded for MA and Louis-Auguste, a conflict opposed Prussia and England against France and Austria. It ended up in disaster, and both Louis XV and Marie-Thérèse renounced to some of their land possessions. From that moment, France tried to maintain its alliance with Austria, but the French king still felt some mistrust towards this country. Like England (mostly with the competitions between French king François I and English king Henry VIII during the Renaissance times), Austrian sovereigns were considered as rivals.
Choiseul, a French nobleman, worked on a marital project between the two countries in order to make the bond between them much stronger. Indeed, Bourbons and Habsbourgs had both a lot of prestige and this new form of alliance could only make it brighter and more powerful.
From 1766 to 1769, diplomats exchanged many letters about Marie-Antoinette and the union between the princess to dauphin Louis-Auguste. If she already pleased with her pretty face and good manners, her lack of sturdy education started to worry her mother. So in 1768, the empress really began to catch-up for her daughter's short comings.
Marie-Antoinette made tolerable progress in French, history etc but it remained superficial enough. The most important was to get her to speak the best French possible. As she had all the graces required for a princess, her entourage felt sure about her social success.
It seemed the little princess underwent some physical make-over: her new hairstyle coiffed her (to arrange her high forehead), a dentist took care of her teeth (badly aligned at first) and they sewed for her new dresses in a more French style. We have to remember the French court was the nest of fashions in all categories possible.
A portrait is sent to the French court. It probably was received with both satisfaction and contentement. As for Marie-Antoinette, she only received a painting of her future husband plowing a field. I think it was done so in order to make her see her future husband's qualities (a great worker? a humble and healthy young man?). Though such a choice of representation can still be seen as strange. And she probably didn't complain because no one reported a sign of disappointment from her part.
On June 13rd, 1769, Marie-Antoinette was officially asked in marriage by the French king for his grand son Louis-Auguste.
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