A statement was read at the side of the city's docks, which was a favourite place of the 25-year-old.
Miss Yeates was found strangled on Christmas Day, a few miles from her home in the city's Canynge Road.
Police have been granted more time to question her landlord, Chris Jefferies, 65, about her death.
A statement from her boyfriend, Greg Reardon, who reported her missing on 17 December, said: "Jo loved it here by Bristol harbourside and found great joy in the rowing club."
He said she was a beautiful woman in mind, body and soul.
"She had a great career ahead of her as a landscape architect and would have achieved a great many more things in her life if she was only given the chance. I will always love her."
Jo Yeates: Family statement in full
The family statement, read by Det Con Emma Davies, added: "Jo was taken from us, the method has only intensified our grief.
"She was a beautiful and talented young lady, who was destined to fly high. Her life was stolen from her and she was stolen from us."
Joanna Yeates's body was found on Christmas Day Miss Yeates, originally from Hampshire, was found in Longwood Lane, in Failand, near Bristol, by a couple walking their dogs.
Post-mortem tests revealed she had been strangled.
Mr Jefferies is currently being questioned at a police station within the Avon and Somerset force area after being arrested on suspicion of murder last Thursday.
He lives in the flat above the Victorian basement property he rented to Miss Yeates and her boyfriend.
Forensic science teams have been continuing to remove items for examination from the properties.
Longwood Lane, where Miss Yeates's body was found, reopened on Saturday afternoon.
Crimestoppers has offered a £10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Miss Yeates's killer.
