This is a well-composed, well-executed shot. You've thrown the background out of focus at what I consider exactly the right amount -- I can see what it is, but it's not at all distracting. And I happen really to like pastels for feminine backgrounds, too.
Importantly, how do Molly and her family like the image?
Very nice image. You captured a really beautiful smile on her face.
I'm going to disagree with Puffin on the background. I think the aperture is too wide. It's probably a really nice scenic area that you chose for the shot, but unfortunately the background is blurred so much the viewer can't appreciate the background. (The background is so blurred it's hard to tell whether she is standing in front of a cloud-filled sky, or a mountain covered with snow.) I hope you took several shots varying the aperture. As is, there's really no point in maintaining it as a landscape crop. You might as well crop it to a portrait format.
Regardless of the detail of the background, it's still a very nice image of the main subject.
I love this portrait. It is a portrait of Molly, not the environment. The blurred background doesn't take away from
Molly and in fact, enhances the subject by giving the image depth.
There's room for both schools of thought film_4ever and I come from a photography background where inclusion rather than exclusion of the background is the norm. In this case I used the exclusion of the background to set up my subject (background excluded by way and in part by shooting wide open). Although the background is there, it used to set depth and pull you into my subject. Notice the few trailing elements that are more in focus... it all works to bring out my subject.
