Ryan Bakerink was the album's photographer shooting both the rejected and final cover. The band stripped Wentz's bedroom, the largest, and filled it with items from each member's room to create the set. "In hindsight, I kind of feel like the rest of the band just let Pete do all of the heavy lifting. It was exhausting. We were carrying beds and dressers and all these things into the other room, and we were just soaked in sweat," Bakerink recalled. He had had a lengthy conversation with Stump about Stump's love for Elvis Costello, and found an "Armed Forces" LP of Stump's sitting out, strategically placing it in the image to play it off as Stump's. As the band was "rooted in nostalgia from early on," the photograph was filled with 1980s toys and cereals. The photo went through several versions, with one idea involving the bed sheet pulled back, as if somebody had got out of bed and left a letter to someone. As the album title had yet to be finalized, they did two shots of a sealed envelope, one with the alternate title "To My Favorite Liar" and one with "Take This to Your Grave". Eventually, Wentz suggested they use his then girlfriend, lying on her back in bed, exhausted. Bakerink showed the Polaroid to Wentz, who immediately loved the shot. The photo session ran later and later, and by 2:00 am they began shooting individual member shots and what became the album cover. When it was sent to Fueled by Ramen for approval, the label responded that they "couldn't clear any of this stuff," such as posters of Cher, Morrisey and "Edward Scissorhands," and images of Count Chocula and Darth Vader. When Trohman showed the new album cover to Bakerink at the album release party at the Metro, he was surprised: "It was interesting how they ended up using the last image we took that night, and I didn't even know if it was supposed to be used at all. I wound up really liking it." The original cover was eventually used for the first pressing of the album's vinyl edition.