A group of schoolchildren performed an emotional Haka as the coffin was carried inside.
At the beginning of the service Carly's aunt, Sister Edwina Ulberg, paid tribute to her niece's life.
And after mourners sang the hymn Amazing Grace, eulogies were given by Carly's father, Reg Stewart, her mother, Charlene, and brother, Reuben.
A mother of two boys, she was described by friends as a "beautiful soul" who adored her family.
At her workplace Superior Personnel, a recruitment company in East Tamaki, she was remembered as being dedicated to her clients.
A family notice in the Herald on Tuesday said Stewart was the daughter of Reg and Charlene, and Ray, and a beloved sister to Reuben and Miriana.
The woman charged with Stewart's murder was tearful when she appeared in Waitakere District Court on Monday.
She held her hands on her head while she stood in the dock.
The accused was given interim name suppression.
The group of women who attended the "girls' day out" afterwards told the Herald they were all "like sisters" and that the woman accused of murder had gatecrashed the party.
The woman who lives at the address and hosted the event, who did not wish to be named, said it was a "beautiful" day until the uninvited guest arrived.
"I didn't even know her," she said.
"It was a beautiful day, we are all sisters who grew up together. An outsider came in, no one knew that was going to happen."