Tori Sam and Ivan Yen kicked off their wedding day with an emergency room visit after a bizarre 3 a.m. encounter with a bat. The Naperville, Illinois, couple found the uninvited guest inside their home the night before the ceremony. The scare ended with rabies shots for both of them, according to People.
It all started when Sam, 28, heard strange noises shortly after heading to bed. She initially feared a break-in, but when she removed her sleep mask, she realized a bat was flying directly overhead. Her fiancé, 29-year-old Yen, was sound asleep.
Sam eventually woke him up. Once awake, Yen was “panicking, scared for his life and hiding under the covers for way too long,” Sam joked. The couple managed to encourage the bat to fly out of the bedroom, but the ordeal continued as they tracked the creature downstairs.
The groom grabbed a vacuum attachment and never actually used it
Yen grabbed a Dyson vacuum attachment to defend himself, though Sam said he was too scared to use it. Sam spent her time searching for advice on how to remove the intruder. She eventually learned that using a towel to shoo the creature away worked.
After about 10 minutes of running around the house and dodging what they saw as potential attacks, the couple watched the bat exit through the kitchen door. They later shared the experience on Instagram. The video contrasted their plan for a good night of rest with the reality of their 3 a.m. bat hunt. In the caption, Sam wrote that a bat was not on the list of things she expected to stress about the night before her wedding.
The couple managed to get about four hours of sleep. However, the morning brought a new set of concerns. At 7 a.m., they began researching rabies vaccine protocols and consulting with family members who work in the medical field.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rabies shots should be given as soon as possible after a potential exposure, as the disease is almost always fatal once symptoms appear. Because Yen was sleeping while the bat was in the room, it could have bitten or scratched him without him realizing it.
Bat bites can be small enough to go unnoticed. An 11-year-old Ontario boy died of rabies after a bat landed on his face while he slept, and his parents found no bite mark. A Virginia doctor also received rabies treatment after waking to a bat near her mouth.
Yen headed to the emergency room that morning and received five shots as a precaution. Sam opted to wait until after their wedding ceremony at Cantigny Park in Wheaton to receive her own treatment, as she felt more confident that she had not been in direct contact with the bat.
The medical bills were an unexpected hit to their wedding budget. The rabies shots cost $3,500 each after insurance, for a total of $7,000. However, the couple has managed to keep a sense of humor about the situation. Sam said she finds it entertaining to read the comments and hear other people’s stories about bat encounters.
The experience was “definitely memorable and apparently, good luck,” Sam said. “I’m glad we’re alive to tell the tale for sure,” Sam added. The standard post-exposure treatment includes four vaccine doses spread over 14 days, which means the couple’s rabies shots likely stretched into their first weeks of marriage.
Published: Oct 15, 2026 03:45 pm