He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full.
It is erroneous to infer any kind of anachronism from John's use of the term "bride" in this place.  Some have alleged that the apostle here imputed words to John the Baptist which were prevalent in the church at the time the Gospel was written.  On the contrary, it was this statement of the great herald, along with our Saviour's frequent employment of the same metaphor, as in the parables of the ten virgins and of the marriage feast, which gave rise to preference for this metaphor in the early church.  Such a perceptive leader as John the Baptist, to say nothing of his inspiration, found this metaphor most appropriate.  The image of the bride and the bridegroom is found often in the prophetic books of the Old Testament, where it was invariably used to describe the relationship between God and his people Israel (Hosea 2:19;  Ezekiel 16;  Malachi 2:11, etc.).  Thus, it should be concluded that John the Baptist received the metaphor from the Old Testament.  It was his before it became the apostle's.  Thus, the author of John did not impute his own words here, but gave an accurate account of what was truly said.