Central-transition I-127 solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) spectra are presented for several anhydrous group 2 metal iodides (Mgl(2), Cal(2,) Srl(2), and Bal(2)), hydrates (Bal(2)-2H(2)O and Srl(2)-6H(2)O). and Cdl(2), (4H polytype). Variable offset cumulative spectrum data acquisition coupled with echo pulse sequences and an 'ultrahigh' applied field of 21.1 T were usually suitable to acquire high-quality spectra. Spectral analysis revealed iodine-127 nuclear quadrupole coupling constants (C-Q((127)l)) ranging in magnitude from 43.5 (Cal(2)) to 214 MHz (one site in Srl(2)). For very large C-Q, analytical second-order perturbation theory could not be used to reliably extract chemical shifts and a treatment which includes quadrupolar effects exactly was required (Bain, A. D. Mol. Phys. 2003, /0/, 3163). Differences between second-order and exact modeling allowed us to observe 'higher-order' quadrupole-induced effects for the first time. This finding will have implications for the interpretation of SSNMR spectra of quadrupolar nuclei with large quadrupole moments. In favorable situations (i.e., C-Q(I-127) < 120 MHz), measurements were also performed at 11.75 T which when combined with the 21.1 T data allowed us to measure iodine chemical shift (CS) tensor spans in the range from 60 (Bal(2)- 2H(2)O) to 300 ppm (one site in Bal(2)). These measurements represent the first complete characterizations (i.e., electric field gradient and CS tensors as well as their relative orientation) of noncubie iodide sites using I-127 SSNMR. In select cases, the SSNMR data are supported with I-127 NQR measurements. We also summarize a variety of trends in the halogen SSNMR parameters for group 2 metal halides. Gauge-including projector-augmented wave DFT computations are employed to complement the experimental observations, to predict potential structures for the two hydrates, and to highlight the sensitivity or C-Q(I-127) to minute structural changes. which has potential applications in NMR crystallography.