Many native English speakers cannot state an exact definition of "bride" with regard to when one starts, and stops, being a "bride".
Is "嫁" also vague?
How bad of a translation of "bride" is "嫁"?
Many native English speakers cannot state an exact definition of "bride" with regard to when one starts, and stops, being a "bride".
Is "嫁" also vague?
How bad of a translation of "bride" is "嫁"?
妻【つま】 is a female spouse in general. A female partner, a wife, of any age.
嫁【よめ】 is used on the basis of her position within a family. 国語事典 defines this as something like "a (relatively young) woman who came into a family after marriage". Thus it's common for a grandma to call her 25-year-old daughter-in-law "うちの嫁 (our 嫁)". There's no strict consensus on how long one can be called 嫁 after marriage. But an elder member in a family may regard her as 嫁 maybe even after 20 years after her marriage. Common phrases using 嫁 include 嫁に行く, 嫁に入る, 嫁を探す, 嫁になる, all of which somewhat have "enter into a family" connotations.
A husband may casually call her wife either (私の/俺の)妻 or (私の/俺の)嫁 (or sometimes (私の/俺の)奥さん), depending on his preference. In a formal situation, 妻 or 家内【かない】 is the safer choice. See this question for other possible expressions.
花嫁【はなよめ】 is a bride, as Oxford English Dictionary defines, "A woman at her marriage; a woman just about to be married or very recently married." Perhaps a woman is called 花嫁 only for a few days, or even only when she's in a 花嫁衣装/ウェディングドレス. I'm not aware of any meaningful difference between 花嫁 and bride for now.
新婦【しんぷ】 is semantically the same as 花嫁, but sounds stiffer and is basically only used in wedding ceremonies.
新妻【にいづま】 refers to a young woman who has been married (typically) for less than a year.